Developing confidence in relation to mathematics

Like many other interviewees Jean also uses the word confidence to indicate a change in her feelings and motivations. She talks about having “confidence” (or trust) in her

colleagues, her husband and her tutor because she knows they will support her as they share her goal “to get me through the level two”.

She also uses the word “confidence” to indicate changes in her own feelings in her abilities in mathematics. As she explains

“After passing the L1 maths, which was a massive stumbling block for me as an individual, [I feel] a lot more confident because [mathematics] was my weakest area in any of my learning. My goal is now to achieve Level 2”.

This single statement exemplifies an AMJ. Jean describes feeling more positive about her “weakest area” and becoming “more confident” in herself and her mathematical abilities after achieving a qualification. Successful learning, recognised through the achievement of a qualification in her “weakest area”, helps motivate her to continue learning to “achieve level 2”.

Barbalet (1996) argues ‘confidence, trust and loyalty’ are the ‘three basic social emotions ‘that builds ‘the social processes of agency, cooperation and organization’ (ibid, p. 75). Jean’s AMJ certainly links motivation to her increased confidence, developed by working with trusted colleagues and supported through trade union classes and by her family as do many others discussed in section 8.1.3 ( on page 137 ).

In fact to emphasise the usefulness of the notion of changes in confidence to the idea of an AMJ I include another short example of 35 year-old mother of two young children who used

the word ‘confidence’ seven times during her interview to describe how her feelings about mathematics and her motivation to learn has changed during her life.

She spoke about changes in her feelings in relation to her confidence levels decreasing after early learning experiences at school because she reported being put in the wrong set, but her confidence increased after successfully learning mathematics through trade union classes. She talked about how she now felt more confident when teaching her own

children and when dealing with her personal finances, including her mortgage. She said simply “I did my numeracy and it built up my confidence”. In fact she now planned to embark on a PTLLS 6 course to train as a mathematics teacher. I understand her changes in feelings and confidence as indications of her AMJ.

Concluding remarks on an Affective Mathematical Journey (AMJ)

When adults in this research report overcoming sometimes long-held negative memories to re-engage in learning mathematics and describe feeling more positive, or confident, after successful learning experiences, I wanted to recognise this change in their feelings and motivation, so I developed the term Affective Mathematical Journey (AMJ).

The significant change in feelings towards mathematics bought about through

‘transformative learning’ Illeris (2014) argues develops ‘a qualitatively new structure or capacity’ (p.39) within learners indicating a change in their identity, which in my research results indicate adults becoming motivated to learn and use mathematics differently. I used Jean’s story to exemplify an AMJ, and to try to make a ‘holistic’ description of the findings discussed in chapter 7 and in the early part of chapter 8. She started describing her relationship with mathematics when she experienced “failure” at school and developed negative feelings about mathematics. Her feelings towards mathematics and her

motivation to learn began to change when she experienced support and encouragement from her colleagues at work to re-engage with mathematics as part of her developing her

6_{(Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector, an initial teacher training qualification, studied} at QCF Level 3 or 4)

role as a Union Learning Representative. The trade union organised classes provided her with a “different” learning experience; in a supportive environment with people she trusted which motivated her to “struggle” and achieve a mathematics qualification. The

qualification was not at a high level but it was the first she had ever achieved and so her feelings (emotions) about mathematics began to change and with it her belief in her own abilities and her motivation to encourage others to learn.

The important role of the social face-to-face group in her affective journey is a significant piece of learning for mathematics practitioners who work with adults. The importance of the teacher in ensuring the classroom learning experience that was “different” from previous mathematics classes cannot be underestimated. Nevertheless the support of Jean’s fellow learners and trade union colleagues was also important, as well as her being motivated to learn to act as a role model for her own children. So as well as the learning environment being supportive it is also important to recognise the influence of the wider social face-to- face social group on motivating and supporting learning that ‘inspires’ a journey.

Jean was just one example of an adult who had changed her feelings towards

mathematics and increased her confidence after successful learning, as I indicated by linking her story back to previous findings. However, one 49 year-old man described it more succinctly when he said “I learnt to do percentages and [now I] sort of sit up a bit straighter”.

Concluding remarks on emotions, confidence, motivation and an AMJ

While the notion of an Affective Mathematical Journey (AMJ) is secondary to the research aim of exploring motivation, it nevertheless reinforces the importance of emotions in

relation to motivation to learn mathematics. It further emphasises the importance of bearing in mind the emotional connection to motivation and cognitive development when

Chapter 9 Conclusions

In this concluding chapter I discuss my research questions in the context of previously articulated theory and methods of analysis of my data to conceptualise my findings. Following this I discuss how my work makes a unique and valid contribution to knowledge in the field of mathematics education. I finish by discussing a critique of my work and

considering its limitations and then offer suggestions for further research that could usefully follow these findings.

In my study I investigated factors affecting adults’ motivation to learn mathematics in the workplace. I used an inductive approach to analyse qualitative data, employing grounded theory to enable me to generate concepts that I then developed into five categories to address my research questions and conceptualise motivation as it related to social

contexts and the domain of affect. The adults in my sample were a hard to reach group of active trade unionists who are learning mathematics up to GCSE level, while in work, through opportunities funded and negotiated by trade unions and employers. This means they may have unique perspectives to offer and any inferences I make are moderatum generalisations (Williams, 2000) in that they are moderate in scope, open to change and may be tested by further research.