Children's mathematical achievement and how it relates to working memory, test anxiety and self-regulation: A person-centred approach

Abstract

Meeting the challenges of teaching to all individuals requires a multifaceted approach, especially from the Swedish standpoint of inclusive education for all pupils. In the context of applied standards for receiving special educational provision, the present paper strives to shed light on the scope of novel indicators which can accommodate pupils’ different needs. Founded on three established and robust psycho-educational concepts – working memory, test anxiety and self-regulation – all of which are important for educational, social, emotional and behavioural development, the present study examines those concepts in terms of profiles and their relations to mathematical achievement. A battery of tests was completed by 624 children between the ages of 8 and 10 to assess their working memory, test anxiety, self-regulation, and mathematical achievement. Person-centred analyses confirmed the negative academic outcomes associated with the aforementioned variables but also revealed individual variations that warrant attention. Further, pupils labelled with an ‘At-risk’ profile were more likely to achieve low Maths scores, compared to pupils with an ‘In-vigour’ profile. An implication for special educational provision is discussed, and practical suggestions are provided.

• working memory
• test anxiety
• self-regulation
• mathematics
• primary-school level

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to all the pupils, teachers and head teachers who participated in the present study.

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Renate Drechsler, PhD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, and Professor Douglas G. Wren, Department of Research, Evaluation and Assessment, Virginia, USA, for their kind assistance in providing access to the SelfReg and CTAS, respectively.

This work was supported by the Umeå School of Education, Sweden under Grant number 312-1476-07, and by the Swedish Research Council under Grant number 721-2011-2331.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mikaela Nyroos

Mikaela Nyroos is an Associate Pofessor in Education and a participant in the UmeÅ Mathematics Education Research Centre. From the vantage point of mathematical learning, her research focuses on the reciprocal relationships between emotional-cognitive implications and mental ill-health in young pupils.

Bert Jonsson

Bert Jonsson is an Associate Professor in Psychology. He is a member of the UmeÅ Centre for Functional Brain Imaging. He is investigating fundamental questions arising in educational science and pertaining to the cognitive neuroscience of children’s learning.

Johan Korhonen

Johan Korhonen is a Doctoral Student in Special Education and a University Teacher mainly in courses in mathematics learning difficulties and research methods. His core research interest is longitudinal follow-ups of learning difficulties in adolescent students using advanced multivariate statistics.

Hanna Eklöf

Hanna Eklöf is an Associate Professor in Educational Measurement. She is chiefly interested in educational psychology, psychometrics, and large-scale national and international assessment, with a particular focus on motivational issues in the testing situation and on validity issues.