Reframing mathematics anxiety through equity and emotional support: A four-pillar conceptual framework

Mathematics anxiety is associated with lower achievement, avoidance and restricted participation, yet it is often addressed primarily through individual coping strategies. This conceptual synthesis reframes mathematics anxiety as a classroom-mediated affective and equity concern. Seven topic-specific Scopus searches identified 2,688 records, which were reduced to 1,485 unique publications and examined alongside foundational and policy sources. The synthesis integrates cognitive, pedagogical, sociocultural and equity-oriented evidence into four analytically distinct but conditionally interacting classroom conditions: agency-supportive participation, instructional clarity and formative support, adaptive mathematical beliefs and self-regulation, and equitable belonging and emotional safety. Technology is positioned as a conditional cross-cutting enabler. The framework specifies mechanisms, interactions, boundary conditions, and testable propositions, while distinguishing established associations from evidence of direct intervention. It offers a theoretically explicit basis for classroom inquiry, teacher development and future empirical testing.