Profiles of K–12 mathematics teachers’ innovative behavior: A latent profile analysis
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Abstract
This study aims to identify the profiles of K–12 mathematics teachers’ innovative behavior in China using a latent profile analysis approach. Previous studies have mostly used variable-centered methods to examine factors associated with teachers’ innovative behavior, such as school support, professional knowledge, motivation, rewards, and anxiety. However, these approaches provide limited understanding of how mathematics anxiety and innovative behavior coexist within different groups of teachers. To address this gap, this study adopts a person-centered approach to classify mathematics teachers into distinct profiles based on their mathematics anxiety and innovative behavior. Survey data were collected from 336 mathematics teachers from primary, junior high, and senior high schools in China. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify the optimal number of teacher profiles, and further analyses were used to examine whether the identified profiles differed in social influence, facilitating conditions, engagement, rewards, and technological-pedagogical-mathematical knowledge. The results identified four distinct teacher profiles. These profiles showed different combinations of mathematics anxiety and innovative behavior, indicating that teachers with similar professional contexts may still differ substantially in their emotional responses and innovation practices. Further comparison across profiles showed differences in social influence, facilitating conditions, engagement, rewards, and technological-pedagogical-mathematical knowledge, suggesting that mathematics teachers’ innovative behavior is shaped by the combined influence of emotional, professional, motivational, and contextual factors. Notably, the presence of Anxious–Innovative Teachers indicates that high innovative behavior can coexist with high anxiety, highlighting that innovation should not be interpreted only as a sign of confidence or psychological readiness.
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