PRE-SERVICE PRIMARY TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT WITH RESPECT TO MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is an important part of the educational system. Learning mathematics is necessary for an individual's full development in today's complex society. Often, however, we encounter negative attitudes of pupils towards mathematics. Results of international research TIMSS and PISSA show that Czech pupils basically do not like mathematics. We are interested in the attitudes of future lower primary school mathematics teachers towards mathematics because the professional work of future mathematics teachers largely depends on their attitude to the taught subject. The paper summarises the partial results ascertained in research ATM3 (Attitudes towards Mathematics 3) which was conducted among prospective lower primary teachers in 2016. This research was focused on student attitudes to the mathematics position among other learning subjects, on student profession self-assessment with respect to mathematics. The main research method was the semantic differential method. The data used were collected using a special questionnaire for the measurement of attitudes. The collected data measure two basic attitude factors - evaluation and energy. These factors were represented as a set of points in the so-called "semantic space". As a starting point the authors present a two-dimensional semantic space in which students documented the position of mathematics relative to other selected subjects. The attitudes of students of Teaching at the 1st Level of Primary School are not positive. To students, mathematics is associated with a great degree of difficulty, while students do not realise its educational benefit. The authors thus focus on students' attitudes towards their future profession as teachers with respect to mathematics. The authors trace the development of students' attitudes throughout their university studies.