Malaysian Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs about the Nature of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Teachers play a vital role in nurturing and shaping learners in school. Extensive researches
have been conducted showing that beliefs in the nature of teaching and learning held by
the teachers will affect their actual classroom practices. In Malaysia, not many studies have
been done on mathematics teacher's beliefs at the national level. The purpose of this study
is to investigate the beliefs of Malaysian mathematics teachers at the secondary level. The
sample of this study consisted of 39 mathematics teachers who were randomly selected
from all the secondary schools in Malaysia. This is a quantitative study using descriptive
statistics and mean differences to interpret the data. The finding showed that constructivist
beliefs are stronger than the direct transmission beliefs both the male and female teachers.
In addition, there was no significant difference in the direct transmission beliefs and
constructivist beliefs by gender.