Predictors of mathematical attainment trajectories across the primary-to-secondary education transition: parental factors and the home environment

Abstract

<jats:p>A ‘maths crisis’ has been identified in the UK, with many adults and adolescents underachieving in maths and numeracy. This poor performance is likely to develop from deficits in maths already present in childhood. Potential predictors of maths attainment trajectories throughout childhood and adolescence relate to the home environment and aspects of parenting including parent–child relationships, parental mental health, school involvement, home teaching, parental education and gendered play at home. This study examined the aforementioned factors as predictors of children's maths attainment trajectories (age 7–16) across the challenging transition to secondary education. A secondary longitudinal analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children found support for parental education qualifications, a harmonious parent–child relationship and school involvement at age 11 as substantial predictors of maths attainment trajectories across the transition to secondary education. These findings highlight the importance of parental involvement for maths attainment throughout primary and secondary education.</jats:p>

Maths attitudes, school affect and teacher characteristics as predictors of maths attainment trajectories in primary and secondary education

“…The sample exclusions here are the same as those in the first two phases of the project, presented in Evans et al . [ 70 ] and Evans & Field [ 69 ]. Only data for singletons and the first-born twin were retained for analysis.…”

“…Parental education qualifications have been shown to predict maths attainment trajectories in previous studies [ 69 ]. The child's parents were asked about their highest educational qualifications during pregnancy (at 32 weeks gestation), which were coded into the following five categories: no qualifications/no higher than CSE or GCSE, vocational qualifications (i.e.…”

“…Parent–child relationships were included based on previous findings [ 69 ] and were evaluated using the Assessment of Mother–Child-Interaction with the Etch-a-Sketch (AMCIES) [ 81 ] (Wolke, Rios & Unzer, 1995, unpublished manuscript) task during the ‘clinic in focus’ sessions at age 12.5. The AMCIES involves observing parent and child dyads while they play with an Etch-a-Sketch toy.…”

“…The responses for the four items were summed to create a score between 0 and 4, with a higher score indicating more parental involvement in school activities. Parental involvement in school has been found to predict maths attainment trajectories previously [ 69 ].…”

“…The current study is the final part of a three-phase study looking at predictors of maths attainment using the ALSPAC sample. The previous two phases [ 69 , 70 ], which focused on the home environment, parental, cognitive and emotional factors, showed that working memory, internalizing symptoms, parent–child relationships, parental education and school involvement significantly predict maths attainment. The current final phase focuses on school-related predictors of maths attainment trajectories.…”