New Perspectives in Science Education

Teacher effects in mathematics extend beyond achievement to shape students’ emotional responses and confidence. This paper, based on data from 1,200 UK secondary students, analysed alongside teacher self‑reports of mathematics anxiety, examines how a teachers’ own mathematics anxiety directly effects students’ mathematics evaluation anxiety, mathematics learning anxiety, and mathematics confidence.

Findings reveal a striking gender effect: teacher’s mathematics anxiety is associated with heightened evaluation and learning anxiety among female students, while male students’ mathematics confidence changes depending on their teacher’s gender. Specifically, highly anxious female teachers amplify anxiety among female students but simultaneously increase confidence among male students. Notably, this effect is not mirrored in the inverse—male teachers’ anxiety does not produce the same dual impact. In effect, teachers’ mathematics anxiety “splits the room,” producing opposite impacts across gender lines.

By situating these results within broader debates on teacher influence and emotional transmission, the study highlights the need for teacher education programmes to address mathematics anxiety as both a student issue and a professional competency, with attention to gendered dynamics in classroom climates.

Keywords:
Mathematics anxiety; Mathematics confidence; Teacher effects; Gender differences; Mathematics evaluation anxiety; Mathematics learning anxiety; Teacher-Student Relationships; Secondary education