Female primary teachers 'not afraid of maths'

A leading finance education charity has dismissed new research which claims anxieties over teaching maths among female primary teachers can be passed on to pupils of the same sex.

The Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg) has disputed the findings of a study which apparently uncovered a link between female teachers' perception of their mathematical ability and the achievements of female pupils in the subject.

Alison Terry, consultant for the Personal Finance Education Group, said: "Maths is often an area that women feel very comfortable with and […] are absolutely familiar with.

"In terms of the ability to teach the subject and the effectiveness, [… gender] makes no difference at all."

The study, which uncovered no correlating connection between female teachers and male pupils, was conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, Illinois, US, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It was based on a year-long study of 17 first and second-grade teachers, and 52 male and 65 female pupils.



Published On 28/01/2010