A Cross-National Investigation of Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Environment and Academic Efficacy in Secondary Schools

Research was conducted on associations between classroom psychosocial environment in mathematics classrooms and academic efficacy. A sample of 3,602 mathematics students from Australian, British and Canadian secondary schools responded to an instrument that assessed 10 dimensions of mathematics classroom environment (viz. Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Investigation, Task Orientation, Cooperation, Equity, Involvement, Personal Relevance, Shared Control, Student Negotiation). These scales were from 2 existing instruments: What Is Happening In This Classroom and the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey. A 7-item scale assessed students’ academic efficacy at mathematics-related tasks. Simple and multiple correlation analyses revealed statistically significant correlations between these classroom environment dimensions and academic efficacy. Results showed that classroom environment relates positively with academic efficacy. A commonality analysis showed that the 3 Constructivist Learning Environment Survey scales did not contribute greatly to explaining variance in academic efficacy beyond that attributed to the 7 What Is Happening In This Classroom scales.