Internalising Symptoms and Working Memory As Predictors Of Mathematical Attainment Trajectories Across The Primary–Secondary Education Transition

Greater parental education is the strongest predictor of maths attainment and faster future growth for children moving into secondary school even after adjusting for their intelligence (IQ).

The study also showed that:

• Boys achieve significantly higher grades in maths at age 11 but this gap did not grow through secondary school. Academics believe the gap at 11 could be explained by girls’ increasing maths anxiety and decreasing enjoyment of the subject at this age.
• Statistically significant but very weak evidence that pupils with higher emotional symptoms in early childhood had lower maths attainment when they were older.
• The study’s authors recommend that strategies focusing on improving parental education could be a very effective method of increasing attainment in children.
• The study examined working memory and internalizing symptoms as predictors of children's maths attainment trajectories across the transition to secondary education through analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) involving almost 9,000 children born between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992.
• The study focuses on the transition from primary to secondary education because of the reported declines in academic achievement and maths specifically during the move from primary to secondary schools - it is reported that more than a third of children do not show any progress in maths during the transition year.
• The authors believe higher-educated parents support the transition to secondary education in different ways that lessen the negative impact of the transition on maths attainment including their own positive attitudes towards education, involvement with school activities or helping with homework in a supportive environment.
• The authors had hypothesised that emotional temperament in early childhood could be a very early indicator of poor maths attainment later on in adolescence but later concluded that it was not possible to predict later problems with under attainment in maths using emotional difficulties early on in childhood.
• Additional research is needed to further uncover the relationship of memory during a task (working memory) and internalizing symptoms such as anxiety on attainment, using more time-appropriate measures.

Discussion

This study aimed to identify predictors of maths attainment trajectories across the primary to secondary education transition, specifically investigating:

(i) if working memory capacity and internalizing symptoms impact maths attainment pre-transition;

<--- The article continues for users subscribed and signed in. --->