Teaching influence on life-long perceptions of mathematics

Many people, both pupils and adults, appear frightened of mathematics or maintain that they hate it. This paper is the result of research into peoples‘ perceptions of mathematics in order to identify how different attitudes might develop. The research focused on the emergence of negative perceptions and the implication of these for learning mathematics and using mathematics in later life. Many factors were found to influence the development of an individual’s perceptions of mathematics, but school experience was found to be crucial and this paper highlights the responsibility of all teachers to promote mathematics positively.