Associations of students self-reported efficacy beliefs towards mathematics education on completion of their first year in initial teacher education.

Recent changes in the landscape for primary initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland prompted the first stage of this longitudinal design-research study on Mathematics Education which sought to establish a model of teaching and learning based upon iterations of research upon practice (Borko, Liston, & Whitcomb, 2007).
The challenge was to design a research led undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) mathematics programme of study that would focus on the development of students’ efficacy, and more particularly in Year 1, on students’ knowledge of and approaches to the teaching of Measures and perceived implementation of same on their first teaching placement in schools.
This first phase of the study gathered students' views retrospectively on the B.Ed. 1 programme, and explored their perceptions of the skills and abilities they possessed whilst teaching mathematics on School Placement.
The entire cohort of 430 first year ITE students were invited to participate in an online questionnaire based upon Enochs, Smith and Huinker’s (2000) mathematics teacher efficacy beliefs instrument (MTEBI) with a small number of more open questions pertaining to the particular content of the first year programme.
This paper presents an analysis of the responses to the questionnaire and the implications for future research. While the response rate to the questionnaire was disappointing (40 questionnaires completed from 430 students invited) some preliminary findings include moderate self-efficacy scores across the MTEBI subscales, many students’ inclination to draw from research-based resources in planning, and a specific lack of self-efficacy relating to the use of manipulatives.