Learning difficulties in mathematics: perception of teachers when they were students

Abstract

Part of the issues associated with difficulty in learning mathematics is linked to factors external to the individual learner. The objective of this research was to access the memories of teachers from the early years and identify the perception of risk factors that caused learning difficulties in mathematics at the time they were students. For that, the teaching methods, the teacher's training and conduct, the relationship with mathematics and the personal and school affective history recalled by the research subjects were observed. Within a qualitative approach, we applied a questionnaire to 45 teachers in the early years of the municipal public education network in Jequié. From the testimonies of the teachers, who declare having a history of difficulty in mathematics during their student trajectory, data were analyzed that indicated that the difficulties in mathematics attributed by the participants refer to the teaching methods, the incongruity and nonconformity of school mathematics with everyday life, the lack of support and appreciation for the discipline as a result of stereotyped cultural constructions of mathematics, among other causes.