Parents' views and experiences of the Home Mathematics Environment: A cross-country study

Abstract

Updated post peer review. Early mathematical skills predict later educational achievement, employment opportunities, and broader health outcomes (Davies-Keane et al., 2020; Duncan et al., 2007; Williams, 2003). Some research suggests that school-entry mathematical skills are better predictors for later academic achievement in mathematics, reading and science than reading skills at school entry (Claessens & Engel, 2013; Napoli & Purpura, 2018). Furthermore, family contexts, not schools, have been identified as a major source of inequality in student performance (Butterworth, 2005). Yet, research on early mathematical experiences outside of the school context is only beginning to expand (e.g., Chernyak, 2020; Hart et al., 2016; Skwarchuk et al., 2014; Purpura et al., 2020) with most of the mathematical development research having focused on cognitive aspects of development (Cragg & Gilmore, 2014; LeFevre et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2014) or school interventions (Arnold et al., 2002; Clement & Samara, 2008; Cohrssen & Niklas, 2019). Attention has now turned to the influence of the home mathematics environment (HME) on the development of individual competencies (i.e., mathematical abilities such as ordering, cardinality etc.; Anders et al., 2012; LeFevre et al., 2010).