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Research addressing the development of maths motivation mostly comes from North America. Despite declining involvement in maths education and employment in Australia, there is comparatively little longitudinal Australian research on mathematics motivation. Although research from other countries is very valuable in offering an understanding of motivation and how different constructs may change and relate to each other, it should not be assumed that the experience of Australian students is identical to that of students in other countries. Students’ experiences should be considered within their cultural context, as Australia has a different school system and curriculum structure. In the U.S, students generally attend an elementary school from 1st Grade to 6th grade, then a middle school for Grades seven to nine, with high school including Grades 10 to 12. In Australia, generally primary school includes grades 1 to 6 and high school covers grades 7 to 12. In the Australian New South Wales (NSW) educational system, Grades 7 and 8 are focused largely on strengthening material

learnt in primary school (Watt, 2004). Then in grades 9 and 10 students are streamed into ability levels, and in the senior grades students can choose if they study maths and at which level (Watt, 2004). This context is likely to influence how students approach mathematics and an understanding of students in the Australian school system is needed.

Watt (2004) performed a longitudinal study with Australian high school maths students within an expectancy-value framework consistent with previous longitudinal research (Jacobs et al., 2002; Fredricks & Eccles, 2002). In a cohort-sequential design including grades 7 to 11, students’ ability and value beliefs were tracked and an overall decrease in beliefs was expected. Watt (2004) found that across these grades,

expectancies and values decreased, with the transitions into Grades 7 and Grade 11 showing the strongest negative effects. Consistent with Chouinard and Roy (2008), this indicates that students felt less positive about maths at both the transition to high school and the transition to senior high. Similar to Fredricks and Eccles (2002), there was a steep decline in intrinsic values during the junior grades of high school, which then plateaued in senior grades. However, utility values showed an increased decline in later grades, which is concerning because this period is when students may make decisions about which disciplines or careers they would like to pursue post high school. In relation to gender Watt (2004) found that overall, boys showed more adaptive maths motivation than girls. This was characterised by stronger competency beliefs and intrinsic interest than girls across all grades. However, there was no gender difference for utility values. Watt (2004) also found that gender differences in the Australian sample changed with time. During the middle grades (Grades 8 to 10), girls perceived maths as more difficult and needing more effort than boys. Whilst boys’ success expectancies remained relatively stable, girls’ showed a curvilinear pattern declining through junior high, and then recovering slightly in senior grades. Watt (2004) concluded that developmental changes in expectancies and values were negative through secondary school, particularly for utility valuing. Although gender differences favoured boys overall, Watt (2004) found that girls showed stronger declines than boys in earlier grades, while boys tended to have negative changes later in high school. Consequently, she suggests retaining a focus on girls’ academic

Watt’s (2004) study is valuable because it showed that Australian high school students also report negative trends in maths expectancy-value constructs and it identified possible gender trends. However, the sample population were from

Northern Sydney, consisting of an upper-middle class socio-economic group. This is a comparatively privileged population within a metropolitan area. Consequently, it is uncertain how well the results generalise to other Australian students, such as those living in a more rural or lower socio-economic setting. Country-wide trends indicating a low proportion of teachers trained in mathematics and dropping student enrolments are magnified in regional and rural areas (MCEETYA, 2003). Consequently, a major concern for Australian educators and educational policy is the quality and effectiveness of education in rural locations. Also, Watt’s (2004) data collection did not occur at the same time every school year. The first two waves were at the end and middle of the school year consecutively, and the last two waves occurred during the beginning of the school year. Considering findings that motivation decreases within the school year, as well as across grades (Chouinard & Roy, 2008), the last two waves may have shown artificially high ratings. To account for within year fluctuations, a more accurate measure of maths motivation should assess students at the same time each year. Furthermore, much of Watt’s (2004) study focused on expectancy-value constructs of maths motivation. While this is useful in understanding how students’ competency and value beliefs change across high school, the trajectory of adaptive behaviours and maladaptive constructs for Australian students in mathematics remains unexplored.

There is some short-term longitudinal research on the general academic motivation of Australian high school students that indicates increases in anxiety and self-handicapping during the final year of high school. Smith (2004) measured the negative affect of Year 12 students studying for the NSW higher School Certificate (HSC) during their final year. Students completed questionnaires at the beginning of the school year, before their trial exams and then after their first round of exams before the finals. As expected, maths anxiety and self-handicapping increased, while self-efficacy decreased between the three stages of the final year of high school. Interestingly however, students’ ratings of mastery and failure-avoidance tendencies, as well as learning strategies remained stable across the school year. Contrary to expectations, there was no continued increase in anxiety between the trial and final

examinations. Smith (2004) offers an explanation that applies Bandura’s (1986, 1997) self-efficacy theory, suggesting that anxiety increases when students feel low control over an event. However by the final examinations students had gained some

understanding of the experience through feedback from their trial examinations. Rather than feelings of anxiety increasing, some students would have gained a sense of control whereas students who were disappointed by their initial feedback may have developed a helplessness orientation and this would result in overall mean anxiety ratings remaining steady. In relation to gender, although girls reported more stress and depression, it was boys who showed more maladaptive coping strategies through failure avoidance and self-handicapping. No gender differences between mastery goals and self-efficacy scores were found. Smith’s (2004) results show that the pressure of final examinations may encourage a preoccupation with avoiding displays of

incompetency. They also highlight the importance of exploring the darker aspects of academic motivation, and their development in later grades of high school.