Lower secondary school students’ conceptions about their effort in mathematics education

Previous research has shown the importance of affect when seeking knowledge about students’ achievements. However, there are surprisingly few studies looking at students’ expressed effort on a longer time scale. Using data spanning over almost three decades, in this paper, we analyze Swedish lower secondary school students’ responses to items in relation to large-scale assessments in 1992, 2003, and 2019. The two general results were that students express a lower level of goal-directed motivation, whereas the responses regarding students’ motivation as an evaluation of effort, most students state that they do not give up when facing a difficult task, that they would learn more and do better if they put more effort into their studies, and that they are happy with their achievement. Looking at changes between the different years, several items show a significant difference in the Swedish students’ answers between 1992 and 2003 and no difference by 2019. The results might explain the changes in achievement that took place between 1992 and 2003.