UTILIZING SELF-MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUE IN REDUCING MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND IMPROVING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE EDUCATION PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF IMO STATE

Abstract

The study utilized self-management techniques to reduce mathematics anxiety and to improve academic achievement among pre-service ECCE teachers in Imo state. Based on the purpose of the study, four research questions were raised and four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the Quasi experimental research design specifically the pretest-posttest group design. The population of the study comprising of 575 Pre-service teachers. A sample size of 65 Pre-service was used for the study comprising 30 males and 35 females. The instruments for data collection were Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ) and Mathematics achievement test (MAT). The reliability co-efficient(r) of 0.89 and 0.82 respectively was obtained using K-20 and test-retest method respectively. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation and the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistical tool. The findings of the study showed that Self-management was an effective treatment technique in reducing mathematics anxiety and improvement of academic achievement irrespective of gender. It was recommended that Self-management technique should be adopted by school guidance counsellors and other allied professionals as an effective treatment helping mathematics[1]anxious students and for promoting students‟ academic performance in schools. In enhancing academic achievement in school setting, support strategies such as educational guidance and counseling, teaching life skill programmes and psychotherapy should be promoted.