1st February 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Female teachers’ anxiety with maths is creating a feeling of uncertainty among their female students, the Telegraph has reported. According to a study in the US, based on 117 infant school students, when a teacher is unsure of the subject they are teaching, it creates a similar problem among the girls in that class.
The study found that female teachers had a lack of confidence in their ability to do simple arithmetic compared to their male counterparts, and given that 90% of primary school teachers are now female, this can have an effect on the population as a whole. Boys are less effected by their teachers’ insecurities, because it’s said that boys rejected the behaviour and attitudes of adults of the opposite sex.
The study comes amid the publication of figures showing that boys are outperforming girls in maths for the first time in a decade; more boys than girls achieved a C grade or better in the recent GCSE results in the UK. This has also been explained by the decision to remove coursework, which experts say traditionally favour girls.