Abstract:

Since 1990, the subject of Mathematics in Basic and Secondary Education has undergone several changes in terms of subject content and teaching and working methods. These changes have been reflected in the teaching work and have demanded from teachers an enormous capacity to adapt to constant changes and an enormous need for training and updating. For this reason, we decided to study the resilience and general self-efficacy of teaching staff, focusing our study only on the subject area in which we make our profession, Mathematics. The present work aims to study/analyze the indices of resilience and general self-efficacy evidenced, namely of Mathematics teachers from Groups 230 (Mathematics and Natural Sciences – 2nd Cycle) and 500 (Mathematics – 3rd Cycle and Secondary Education), given the constant changes that have been verified in Mathematics Programs. In order to carry out a study on resilience and general self-efficacy, two instruments were applied: Scale of Resilience (short version) by Wagnild & Young, 2009 (original version) whose Portuguese version is by Felgueiras, Festas & Vieira, 2010 (reviewed by Pinheiro & Matos, 2013; and by Pinheiro & Simões, 2013); General Self-Efficacy Scale - GSE - General Self-Efficacy Scale original by Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1993 whose Portuguese version is by Araújo & Moura, 2011. In this study, 130 teachers from all over the Portuguese Republic participated, who responded online to the instruments used. The results reveal that teachers are resilient and self-efficacious in the face of changes in the Mathematics curriculum. A significant positive correlation was also found between resilience and self-efficacy.

Keywords:

Resilience, general self-efficacy, changes in the mathematics curriculum.