Do Teachers' Beliefs About Math Aptitude and Brilliance Explain Gender Differences in Children's Math Ability Self-Concept?

Abstract

The self-concept of ability in math in elementary school is an early predictor for future math-related choices and careers. Unfortunately, already at this early age girls report lower ability self-concepts in math than boys-despite their comparable performances in objective math competence tests. In the present study we focus on teachers' beliefs as factors explaining these gender differences. Women's underrepresentation in math and science in academia has recently been explained by the belief held by the environment that success in these domains requires an innate ability that cannot be taught ("brilliance"). In addition, teachers' beliefs regarding their students' mathematical aptitude have also been found to influence students' self-concepts of ability. Here, we study if teachers' beliefs regarding their students' mathematical aptitude and brilliance beliefs may account for gender differences in elementary school students' self-concept of ability in math and thus potentially contribute to entering the gendered path into math and science professions. In a sample of 830 fourth graders (M = 9.14 years old, 49% female) and 56 elementary school teachers from Germany, we assessed teachers' beliefs regarding their students' mathematical aptitude and their belief that children need brilliance to succeed in math as well as children's mathematical ability self-concept and competencies. In line with prior research, boys reported a statistically significantly more positive math ability self-concept (d = 0.50), although boys and girls reached similar scores in a standardized math competence test (d = 0.07). However, multilevel regression analyses revealed that teachers' math brilliance beliefs were not related to the gender gap in students' ability self-concept in expense of girls whereas the gender gap was mediated by teachers' beliefs about their students' mathematical aptitude. These findings suggest that math brilliance beliefs held by important socializers such as teachers might not play a role in explaining gender differences in math-related motivation in elementary school whereas teachers' beliefs about students' math aptitude do. Results are discussed against the background of teacher expectancy effects, developmental changes in elementary school, and cultural differences.

Disentangling different sources of stability and change in students’ academic self-concepts: An integrative data analysis using the STARTS model.

“…This belief may contribute to less dynamic change in mathematical self-concept. Furthermore, self-concept in mathematics compared with languages may be more strongly influenced by gender stereotypes (e.g., Cvencek, Meltzoff, & Greenwald, 2011; Heyder, Steinmayr, & Kessels, 2019), which might lead students to be more likely to discount achievement information that would threaten their gender-based self-image, resulting in higher stability. However, future research is needed to substantiate these post hoc explanations.…”

In-class ‘ability’-grouping, teacher judgements and children’s mathematics self-concept: evidence from primary-aged girls and boys in the UK Millennium Cohort Study

“…Since Rosenthal and Jacobsen's (1968) 'Pygmalion', a literature has built on the impacts of teacher perceptions and judgements, as well as on error and bias in judgements. This includes evidence of a pervasive, disproportionate tendency of teachers to more often rate boys as good at maths, compared to girls (Campbell, 2015;Heyder et al, 2019;Riegle-Crumb & Humphries, 2012;Tiedemann, 2002;Wang, Rubie-Davies, & Meissel, 2018), and indications that judgements to some extent convey individual teachers' own cognitive frameworks and tendencies -rather than simply reflecting children's performance (Rubie-Davies, 2007, 2010. Heyder et al's (2019) recent research into teachers' beliefs suggests that they 'directly affect students' beliefs such as their stereotypes and ability self-concepts', while Timmermans, Rubie-Davies, and Rjosk's (2018) review illustrates that this phenomenon manifests internationally.…”

“…Self-concept can influence learning behaviours, choices of educational tracks and subject specialisms, attainment and adult careers (Hansen & Henderson, 2019;Marsh et al, 2015). Research consistently indicates gendered variation in maths self-concept, with boys tending more often towards a positive view of their own competence, and girls relatively more often to a negative view -a disproportionality not explained by differences in skills (Heyder, Steinmayr, & Kessels, 2019;Sullivan, 2013).…”

Exploring the Nature of Teachers’ Math-Gender Stereotypes: The Math-Gender Misconception Questionnaire

“…However, as described before, there is no evidence supporting the idea of girls having lower innate math abilities. Furthermore, the combination of a fixed mindset and lack-of-talent assumptions is especially detrimental for female students’ math-attitudes ( Dweck, 2015 ; Heyder et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Muenks et al, 2020 ) and for their performance ( Canning et al, 2021 ).…”