Teacher Enjoyment and Attitudes Toward Student Struggles in Mathematics: Evidence from Indonesian Elementary Schools

Background Teachers’ enjoyment of teaching mathematics is an important affective factor that shapes instructional quality and classroom climate, while productive struggle has become increasingly recognized as a key element of meaningful mathematics learning. However, existing studies have mostly examined these constructs separately or within Western contexts, providing limited evidence from Indonesian elementary schools. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between teachers’ enjoyment of teaching mathematics and their attitudes toward students’ productive struggle, while considering their demographic characteristics. It also investigated whether teaching enjoyment predicts supportive attitudes toward productive struggles. Methods A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 209 elementary school teachers from public and private schools in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Data were collected using the Teaching Enjoyment in Mathematics (TEM) and Attitudes Toward Struggle (ATS) scales. Instrument reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha (α). Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 29. Results Teachers’ enjoyment and attitudes toward productive struggle did not differ significantly by gender, school type, or teaching experience. Teaching enjoyment was positively associated with supportive attitudes toward productive struggle (r = 0.33, p < 0.01) and negatively associated with avoidance-oriented attitudes (r = -0.42, p < 0.01). Regression analyses further showed that teaching enjoyment significantly predicted more supportive attitudes (β = 0.29, p < 0.001) and fewer negative attitudes toward students’ struggles (β = -0.39, p < 0.001). Conclusion Teachers who enjoy teaching mathematics are more likely to view students’ struggles as opportunities for conceptual growth rather than barriers to achievement. These findings highlight the importance of fostering teachers’ emotional engagement alongside pedagogical competence to create classroom environments that encourage productive struggle and support meaningful mathematics learning in elementary schools.