Pre-service primary teachers have been identified in several research studies as having poor self-conceptions of themselves as mathematics teachers. Many express feelings of anxiety when faced with mathematics tasks resulting in poor dispositions and understandings. This paper reports on beginning pre-service primary teachers' (N=106) recollections of critical moments in their mathematics education at school. Interestingly, their graphical ratings of their dispositions suggest a slightly positive recollection of their mathematical experiences. In contrast their justifications and recount was generally negative.

This paper draws from a pilot study about a teacher education program that focused on building preservice primary teachers' confidence and abilities in teaching and learning mathematics. The cohort involved on-campus [n=82] and off-campus [n=420] participants. The qualitative study was based on developing three aspects of mathematics teacher education: (1) Content knowledge; (2) Pedagogical knowledge; and (3) Knowledge of the learner. A problem-based learning environment was created to build students' self-efficacy and to encourage the beginning teachers' willingness to engage in the unit content by providing authentic teaching contexts, and to develop a richer conceptual and procedural understanding of mathematics.