Abstract

This study investigated mathematics teachers’ perception of students’ cognitive ability, resiliency, and anxiety in Ekiti State Secondary Schools, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 701 Mathematics teachers in 205 public secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The sample for this study consisted of 150 mathematics teachers selected from 54 public secondary schools using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The instrument used for this study was “Teachers’ perception of students’ cognitive ability, resiliency and anxiety questionnaire” (TPSCARAQ). The instrument was validated by experts and was subjected to Cronbach alpha method of reliability, which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the inferential statistics involving Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between teacher perception of students’ cognitive ability and anxiety in Mathematics. It was found out that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ perception of students’ cognitive ability and resiliency in Mathematics. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that teachers should use teachers ’insights into students’ cognitive abilities to tailor instruction and provide differentiated support to meet individual needs, which could help reduce anxiety and build resiliency.