Perceived difficulty of mathematical tasks

The view of primary school teachers

Abstract

Factors influencing the perceived difficulty of mathematical tasks have been analysed, considering secondary school teachers’ and students’ perspectives. This paper shows the results of qualitative research exploring and investigating the factors influencing primary school teachers’ perceived difficulty after solving a mathematical task. We started with factors characterising perceived difficulty, which had been identified in previous studies about students and had also been considered suitable for high school teachers. We compared them to the primary school teachers’ point of view, highlighting similarities and differences and discussing primary school teachers’ beliefs regarding mathematics and perceived difficulty.