Validation of secondary pupil attitudes survey: Technical Report 2025/1

This technical report describes the validation of a survey of secondary school pupils’ attitudes towards mathematics. The survey will be used in a 7-year longitudinal study of pupils in England which is being conducted by the Observatory for Mathematical Education. It is designed to measure pupils’ attitudes in four dimensions: perceived value of learning mathematics, confidence in mathematics, enjoyment of mathematics, and anxiety about mathematics, using 32 items adapted from previously validated scales. The validation was conducted with a sample of Year 7 pupils (N = 392). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the convergent validity, discriminant validity and internal consistency of the scales. The survey was found to be sufficiently reliable and valid for the proposed use.