Validation of the motivations in mathematics enrolments by students (MIMES) scale

Abstract Despite the recognised importance of mathematics for national, economic and technological prosperity, the issue of declining senior secondary enrolments in this subject persists in Australia. The purpose of this research project is to investigate the perceptions of Year 11 and Year 12 students in Australian secondary schools, regarding their decisions to enrol in or not to enrol in mathematics courses. In pursuit of this purpose, the authors developed and validated the Motivations in Mathematics Enrolments by Students (MIMES) scale, in line with a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework. While scholars both within Australia and internationally have previously surveyed secondary school students on their reasons for choosing a subject, there is currently no validated instrument to assess students’ reasons to choose or not choose to study mathematics, or any other subject, at the senior secondary school level. Reported within this paper are the findings generated using both a confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis on a large data set ( n = 2156) comprising student input from two Australian states; Western Australia and New South Wales.