Study 2: Using a mixed methods approach to study mathematics anxiety among teachers and students

Teachers’ emotions and attitudes can shape how students experience and perform in mathematics. In particular, teachers’ mathematics anxiety may be transmitted to students through various classroom processes. The current study investigates this transmission of mathematics anxiety, focusing on potential affective, instructional, and cognitive pathways, including teachers’ implicit anxiety, lesson quality, and students’ gender ability beliefs. Previous research has shown that female teachers’ mathematics anxiety can be linked to students’ mathematics performance, particularly among girls (Beilock et al., 2010; Schaeffer et al., 2020). While Beilock et al. (2010) proposed that this link may be explained through students’ gender ability beliefs, Schaeffer et al. (2020) did not replicate this mechanism. The current study aims to replicate and extend this line of research within the Dutch educational context. The replication component examines the association between teachers’ mathematics anxiety and their students’ mathematics performance, with students’ gender ability beliefs considered as a potential mediator in this relationship. The design builds on the original work by including students from Grades 3 and 5 (two critical stages in mathematics development) and by incorporating both teachers’ mathematics teaching anxiety and students’ mathematics anxiety as additional variables. Beyond the replication focus, the study extends this research by examining alternative mechanisms through which teachers’ mathematics anxiety may be transmitted to students. Specifically, it investigates implicit associations with mathematics as a possible affective pathway, as well as classroom‑based factors such as instructional quality and subtle expressions of anxiety during mathematics lessons. These components provide a more comprehensive understanding of how teachers’ emotional and instructional characteristics may jointly influence students’ mathematical outcomes. Data collection will take place in two waves. The first wave, conducted between October 2025 and June 2026, will follow a cohort of teachers and students over one school year. A second wave, from October 2026 to June 2027, will include a new group of teachers and students to enable replication and validation of the findings.