Keyword: mathematics interest

ABSTRACT: The study aimed to examine the role of teacher quality on students’ mathematics interest as facilitated by students’ perception of mathematics. The participants were 300 students from three senior high schools. The study was purely a quantitative method that employed a questionnaire as a data collection tool. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to estimate the result for the hypothesized paths. The findings from the study revealed that teacher-student collaboration and teacher empathy had a direct positive and statistically significant effect on student’s mathematics interest. On the other hand, student’s perception in mathematics partially facilitates the relationship between teacher empathy and the student’s mathematics interest. Moreover, the perception of mathematics partially facilitates the relationship between teacher-student collaboration and student’s mathematics interest. The study recommended that mathematics teachers must collaborate with students in terms of classroom teaching and learning and work more practical mathematics examples with students in the class in order to enhance student’s mathematics interest.