Kajsa Yang Hansen

Background: Mindset theory has increasingly shifted from asking whether growth mindsets predict achievement to asking how, for whom, and under what conditions beliefs about intelligence become motivationally consequential. Aims: This study contributes to that theoretical shift by examining mindset as a distal belief embedded within a broader social‐cognitive system of achievement motivation. Sample and Methods: Using PISA 2018 data on 36,905 15‐year‐old students in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Beijing‐Shanghai‐Jiangsu‐Zhejiang, China, we modeled associations among mindset, socioeconomic background, mastery goals, motivation to master school tasks, reading self‐concept, general self‐efficacy, fear of failure, and reading achievement through a multi‐group path analysis approach. Results: Model results showed that a growth mindset was positively associated with reading achievement in the Nordic countries, unrelated to achievement in Hong Kong, and negatively associated with achievement in B‐S‐J‐Z China. Indirect effects were generally small, while reading self‐concept emerged as the most consistent proximal correlate of achievement. These patterns suggest that mindset is best understood not as a universal predictor of achievement but as a context‐sensitive component within culturally situated socio‐cognitive systems. Conclusions: The study, therefore, uses cross‐national evidence to refine the theoretical placement of mindset within achievement motivation, highlighting the importance of mechanisms, proximal competence beliefs, and cultural boundary conditions.

The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire–Elementary School uses pictorial response anchors to assess enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety across academic settings. This study examined the psychometric properties of a modified mathematics version, the AEQ-ES-Gn, in which the original gender-specific faces were replaced by gender-neutral, smiley-based representations. Participants were 12,738 students (M age at Wave 1 = 9.57 years, SD = 0.83; 50.7% girls among students with available gender information) from 287 schools in Estonia, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and Sweden. Students were in grades 3–4 at Wave 1 and Grades 4–5 approximately one year later in Wave 2. Confirmatory factor analyses compared alternative measurement models, followed by tests of longitudinal and multigroup invariance, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, temporal stability, and associations with mathematics competence. A hierarchical model distinguishing emotions and academic settings was retained, showing a good fit and providing the most appropriate overall solution for subsequent analyses. Scalar invariance was supported over time and across gender, grade, and country. Scores showed adequate-to-excellent reliability, generally satisfactory convergent validity, and evidence of discriminant validity, although enjoyment and boredom were strongly negatively related. Temporal stability was moderate, and associations with mathematics competence were small and theoretically consistent. These findings support the AEQ-ES-Gn as a reliable and valid measure of mathematics-related achievement emotions among students in Grades 3–5, while direct comparisons with the original response format remain necessary.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important predictor of achievement, yet the classroom processes through which it may be associated remain debated. This study examines whether student-perceived instructional clarity and classroom management are associated with eighth-grade mathematics achievement in Sweden, and whether these dimensions of instructional quality are associated with SES differences in achievement at the student and classroom levels. Methods: Using nationally representative TIMSS 2019 data (Grade 8), we estimated two-level structural equation models in Mplus, incorporating student weights and the plausible-value methodology. We modeled student-perceived instructional clarity and classroom management as latent constructs at within- and between-classroom levels. We tested the direct associations with achievement, indirect pathways between SES and achievement, and a random-slope model for the within-class SES effect, followed by cross-level interactions. Results: Instructional clarity was positively related to achievement within classrooms, whereas classroom management showed a stronger association between classrooms; SES remained a robust predictor at both levels. Evidence for indirect associations was limited, as within-class indirect effects via clarity or management were negligible. A small between-class indirect path via classroom management was marginal only. The random-slope variance for the SES-achievement relationship was not statistically significant, indicating little cross-class heterogeneity. Accordingly, cross-level interactions with class-mean SES, clarity, and management were also nonsignificant. Class-mean SES and classroom management showed positive associations with mean achievement at the between-level. Conclusions: Findings suggest instructional clarity was more strongly associated with individual-level achievement, while classroom management was more strongly associated with classroom-level achievement. However, these features were not strongly associated with SES-related disparities. Higher levels of instructional quality with higher overall achievement, but closing SES gaps requires combining classroom improvement with broader, equity-oriented policies.

Research shows that parental involvement and specific parenting practices positively and significantly influence students’ motivation and academic achievement. Conversely, some findings indicate a different relationship in which parental assistance or support negatively correlate with academic performance and motivation. However, the cross-sectional design of many studies makes it difficult to determine whether parental support leads to lower academic achievement or if such a relationship arises because parents are more likely to offer support when their children encounter difficulties at school. This study clarifies the ambiguity by analysing three waves of student data (T1, T2, T3) and two waves of parent data (T1, T3). The data were collected from 420 fourth-grade students and their parents in Portugal across T1, with subsequent data collections for students in T2 (fifth-grade) and T3 (sixth-grade). In addition, we investigate the effects on academic performance and motivation of strategies promoting interest in mathematics and practices emphasising costs. Our results demonstrate distinct effects of parental practices across motivational constructs and mathematics achievement. Among these practices, those promoting interest exhibit the most consistent positive effects between T1 and T3 across all constructs. Supportive parental practices showed a small positive effect on mathematics achievement from T1 to T2, although this effect was weaker than the effect of achievement on support. These longitudinal results clarify previous negative correlations reported in cross-sectional studies by showing that parents tend to increase their support when children are struggling, indicating that parental support reflects a bidirectional and reactive process rather than being inherently detrimental.

Building on previous research into teachers’ beliefs and practices in mathematics and their effects on students’ motivation, grounded in the situated-expectancy value framework, we combine person- and variable-centred approaches to examine changes in students’ motivation for mathematics as they transition to middle school. Using longitudinal data from 6656 students across six countries, we examined the slope of change in students’ motivation for mathematics and whether this trajectory is associated with specific constellations of mathematics teachers’ beliefs and practices. Four distinct teacher profiles emerged, with teachers belonging to all profiles in five out of six examined countries. Our findings indicate that each profile is uniquely associated with patterns that support or undermine different facets of students’ motivation for mathematics, suggesting a more complex relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices and students’ motivation for mathematics. Moreover, this relationship varied across the education systems studied, highlighting the importance of considering cultural patterns when discussing teachers’ roles in fostering students’ motivation for mathematics.

This article responds to Dr. Jingoo Kang’s review of Effective and Equitable Teacher Practice in Mathematics and Science Education: A Nordic Perspective Across Time and Groups of Students (Teig et al., 2024). It clarifies and extends the discussion of equity in Nordic education. We address four main critiques: (1) the use of home language as a proxy for immigrant background, (2) the interpretation of teaching quality in high- and low-SES contexts, (3) the omission of gender as a dimension of equity, and (4) the neglect of non-cognitive outcomes. Our response explains the rationale behind these methodological choices while recognizing their limitations. We also point to future directions, including stronger attention to gender equity, greater focus on socio-emotional factors, and deeper examination of the challenges faced by disadvantaged schools. By engaging with these critiques, the article aims to foster ongoing dialogue on equity and effective teaching in Nordic mathematics and science education.