Work packages

In WP1 we will develop knowledge regarding individual differences in students’ trajectories of mathematics self-efficacy and performance, and key (individual and group) factors associated with these trajectories. While mathematical tasks are recognised as central to student learning, most previous studies have ignored recommendations to include levels of difficulty when investigating self- efficacy. In the current project we build on a novel methodological approach to measuring mathematics self- efficacy including levels of tasks difficulty to investigate the role of perceived difficulty on students’ self-efficacy processes.

In WP2 we focus on the relationship between teachers’ differentiated instruction and the development of students’ (mal)adaptive self-efficacy trajectories. International research on teacher-student interactions has helped shed light on the importance of emotional support, instructional support, and behaviour management on student outcomes, however most previous research investigated whole-class teacher-student interactions, not focusing on individual student variability. To determine the effects of classroom interactions on individual students’ learning processes, we will investigate the quality of dyadic teacher-student interactions, including differentiated instructional support, over time.

In WP3 we are concerned with piloting a new intervention, derived from WP1 and 2 findings, to support teachers’ professional development (PD) through a series of workshops, as a basis for a future large- scale intervention. Teachers’ classroom practices are related to their beliefs and affect, and research demonstrated teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching mathematics impacted both (whole class) interaction quality as well as student achievement. Other studies reported that teachers’ instructional practices, not beliefs, mediated the effects of PD on student outcomes. We will take an integrated approach to teacher PD, and target teachers’ knowledge, skills, and behaviours. We will draw on the opportunities afforded by classroom vignettes and positive video examples, to elicit teacher beliefs and reports of instructional practices to more clearly understand how to support teachers’ affect, cognition, and development of classroom practice.