## 2 Materials and Methods
### Data Collection Tool  
Data were collected in this study using a survey method. The survey form consisted of two sections. The first section included five questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the teachers participating in the study, and the second section included the five-point Likert-type Mathematics Learning Difficulty Area Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale developed by the researchers. The data collection tool did not participate in the main application, three hundred and twenty-nine (329) teachers participated in the scale development study, and validity and reliability analyses were conducted for the scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine the construct validity of the scale and to reveal the factor structure. In this process, principal component analysis and the direct oblique rotation method were used. While the principal component method was preferred because it is a widely used method in practice, the direct oblique rotation method was applied with the assumption that there is a relationship between the factors [45]. Before the analysis, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) sample adequacy coefficient was calculated as 0.949 and the sample size was found to be sufficient for EFA. This value expresses an \"excellent\" level of adequacy according to the KMO index [22; 23]. In addition, the Bartlett sphericity test result was found as \(\chi^{2}=2286.609\), df = 136, \(p<0.001\), and it was determined that the correlations between the items were at an appropriate level for factor analysis [46]. Table 2 provides the factor analysis results for the Mathematics Learning Difficulty Area Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, highlighting the underlying dimensions and validity of the scale. When the factor analysis results were examined, it was determined that the scale consisted of two sub-dimensions. The first factor was named \"Personal Teaching Efficacy\" and was found to consist of 11 items (items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 13). The second factor was named \"Instructional Support Efficacy\" and was found to consist of 6 items (items 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19). [PERSON] and [PERSON] [47] state that, if an item loads on more than one factor, it is appropriate to remove these items from the analysis if the loading difference is less than 0.10. Accordingly, in the preliminary application study of the scale, items 10 and 12 loaded on more than one factor and were removed from the analysis because the difference between the factor loadings was less than 0.10. In addition, [PERSON] [45] emphasizes that items that do not give significant loadings on any factor should be removed from the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l c c} \hline  & & **Frequency (n)** & **Percentage (\%)** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Gender} & Male & 56 & 70.0 \\  & Woman & 24 & 30.0 \\  & Total & 80 & 100.0 \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Professional Seniority} & 5 years and under & 13 & 16.3 \\  & Between 5 and 10 years & 16 & 20.0 \\  & Between 10 years and 15 years & 10 & 12.5 \\  & Between 15 years and 20 years & 18 & 22.5 \\  & 20 years and above & 23 & 28.7 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Education Status} & Associate degree & 1 & 1.3 \\  & License & 71 & 88.8 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Degree & 8 & 10.0 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Participated in in-service training related to the field of special education} & Yes & 44 & 55.0 \\ \cline{1-1}  & No & 36 & 45.0 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Previously received education about mathematics learning disability (dyscalculia)} & Yes & 15 & 18.8 \\ \cline{1-1}  & No & 65 & 81.3 \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{Total} & 80 & 100.0 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Descriptive characteristics of the participants. analysis. Based on this, items 20, 21, and 22, which did not give factor loadings, were also removed from the scale. As a result of EFA, the lowest factor loading was determined as 0.508, and it was established that the factors made a significant contribution to the scale items because this value was above the 0.40 threshold value accepted in the literature [48].