Abstract
In this study, we investigated students’ views on themselves as learners of mathematics as a function of school-by-sex (N = 2034, MAge = 18.49, SDAge = 1.25; 12th-grade; 58.2% girls). Using latent variable Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the measurement and structural equivalence as well as the equality of latent means of scores across single-sex and coed schools were tested. Findings regarding the latent mean differences revealed that girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher mathematics self-confidence than did students’ in coed schools. Girls in coed schools had significantly lower mathematics self-concepts than did boys in single-sex, girls in single-sex and boys in coed schools. Girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher family encouragement than students’ in all other school types. Moreover, a more complex dynamics were found on the teacher quality variate. This paper argues for a deeper understanding of sex-school interaction and of possible causes of students’ views on mathematics.
Highlights
Beliefs, values, attitudes, self‐confidence, and motivation plays a vital role on how students approach and process information
Both mathematics self‐concept and self‐ confidence comprise a set of attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions held by students about their academic performance
This is an extension of the traditional multiple‐group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in circumstances whereby scalar invariance is not supported and there are more than two groups
Summary
Values, attitudes, self‐confidence, and motivation plays a vital role on how students approach and process information. These factors can either help or impede the learning of mathematics (Bofah & Hannula, 2015a; Grootenboer & Hemmings, 2007; Hannula, 2015). Single‐sex schools are schools where males or females attend school solely with members of their own sex Such single‐sex settings can involve the whole school or a single class, program or stream within the school. For self‐beliefs (e.g., self‐concept and self‐confidence) “...students use normative judgments about their ability and social comparison processes with reference to their peers, and internal comparisons of their performance in one academic domain relative to other academic domains” For self‐beliefs (e.g., self‐concept and self‐confidence) “...students use normative judgments about their ability and social comparison processes with reference to their peers, and internal comparisons of their performance in one academic domain relative to other academic domains” (Parker et al 2013, p. 4)
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