Abstract:
For over a decade now, students’ performance in mathematics at the Junior
High School leaves much to be desired. The trend in performance by students at the said
level has made researchers ascertain the indicators and factors responsible for this low
performance. As a matter of fact, a number of studies conducted have mentioned teachers’
beliefs and their instructional practices as one of the major factors that determines students’
performance in mathematics. This study, however, focused on finding out the effect of Junior
High School teachers’beliefs and their instructional practices on the academic performance
of students in mathematics. The study was conducted in the Cape Coast Metropolis in the
Central Region of Ghana and utilized the descriptive survey design to explore the
phenomenon in question. A sample of 31 teachers and 306 students were involved in the
study. Analysis of results revealed that teachers who were involved in the study hold
constructivist beliefs, however, there were discrepancies in the practices they enact in their
classroom. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant effect of teachers’ beliefs and
instructional practices on students’ performance. Implications for these findings to the
teaching and learning of mathematics and teachers’ professional development are
discussed in the work.
