Research has shown that some students who underperform in mathematics overestimate their performance, while others who excel in mathematics underestimate it. Looking at this mismatch of performance and confidence judgement—the Dunning–Kruger effect (DKE)—the current study investigates how well students’ confidence judgement and item-specific mathematics competence relate with each other and whether such a relationship differs across six European countries (i.e., Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Serbia and Portugal). We also examine whether perceived competence, mathematics identity, gender, socioeconomic status and immigration background predict this mismatch and whether these demographic factors function differently between the examined countries. The results show that the DKE could be found across grades three and four in all six countries. However, there are country-specific patterns regarding the relationship between performance, mathematics identity and perceived competence; the DKE; and how different demographic variables predict its occurrences in particular subpopulations. 

In studies of academic resilience, the concept is typically operationalized by pre-defned cutof values of students’ achievement level and their social background. A threat to the validity of such arbitrary operationalizations is that students around the cut of values may be misclassifed. The main objective of the current study is to apply a modeling approach to identify academically resilient students. Data come from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2016. The primary method used was latent profle analysis. The study demonstrates that it is possible to identify a group of academically resilient students using a set of variables indicating achievement level and protective factors. Even though results suggest that academically resilient students have higher reading achievement compared to other less-advantaged students, it is evident that they have higher interest and confidence in reading than the non-resilient groups. A sensitivity analysis for other countries indicated similar results. Implications stemming from the results are discussed.

INTRODUCTION: Research indicates that newly graduated registered nurses struggle to develop practical skills and clinical understanding and to adapt to their professional role. To ensure quality of care and support new nurses, it is vital that this learning is elucidated and evaluated. Aim The aim was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of an instrument assessing work-integrated learning for newly graduated registered nurses, the Experienced Work-Integrated Learning (E-WIL) instrument.

METHOD: The study utilized the methodology of a survey and a cross-sectional research design. The sample consisted of newly graduated registered nurses (n = 221) working at hospitals in western Sweden. The E-WIL instrument was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

RESULTS: The majority of the study participants were female, the average age was 28 years, and participants had an average of five months' experience in the profession. The results confirmed the construct validity of the global latent variable E-WIL, "Transforming previous notions and new contextual knowledge into practical meaning," including six dimensions representing work-integrated learning. The factor loadings between the final 29 indicators and the six factors ranged from 0.30 to 0.89, and between the latent factor and the six factors from 0.64 to 0.79. The indices of fit indicated satisfactory goodness-of-fit and good reliability in five dimensions with values ranging from α = 0.70 to 0.81, except for one dimension showing a slightly lower reliability, α = 0.63, due to the low item number. Confirmatory factor analysis also confirmed two second-order latent variables, "Personal mastering of professional roles" with 18 indicators, and "Adapting to organisational requirements" with 11 indicators. Both showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit, and factor loading between indicators and the latent variables ranged from 0.44 to 0.90 and from 0.37 to 0.81, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The validity of the E-WIL instrument was confirmed. All three latent variables could be measured in their entirety, and all dimensions could be used separately for the assessment of work-integrated learning. The E-WIL instrument could be useful for healthcare organisations when the goal is to assess aspects of newly graduated registered nurses' learning and professional development.

ContributionIn research on educational equity, students from socioeconomically disadvantaged homes are typically depicted as low-performers and more likely to fail in school (Sirin, 2005). There are, however, students who, despite their disadvantaged backgrounds, manage to succeed in school. This capacity to overcome adversities in education and still reach successful achievements is referred to as Academic Resilience (Agasisti et al., 2018). Academic Resilience is built upon two critical conditions, namely, exposure to significant threats or severe adversity and achievement of positive adaptation despite major assaults on the developmental process (Kiswarday, 2012). Resilience is often captured by identifying protective and risk factors that predict the likelihood of achieving resilient outcomes. Risk factors are characteristics which heighten the risk of adverse outcomes, while protective factors are characteristics that function as a buffer against negative impacts and are associated with positive adaptation and outcomes (Masten, 2014). Resilient students are often characterized by high self-confidence, perseverance, willingness and capacity to plan, and lower anxiety (Martin & Marsh, 2006, 2009; OECD, 2011), strong engagement in class and academic activities (Borman & Overman, 2004). Thorsen et. al., (2021) also found that resilient students display both more perseverance and consistency of interest over time. Hence, both cognitive and non-cognitive skills are important for academic resilience.

Research on the economics of human development also highlight the value of skill formation for success in adulthood, particularly for disadvantaged children. Societal investments in strengthening both cognitive and non-cognitive skills for disadvantaged children give significant economic returns both at individual and societal levels (e.g. Heckman, 2006). More recent studies have particularly highlighted non-cognitive skill formation as an crucial enabler. Non-cognitive skills are associated with promoting both economic and social mobility, economic productivity and well-being in adulthood (e.g. Kautz et al., 2015; Soto, 2019). A wealth of studies on the labour market aligns with this reasoning, identifying positive associations with both cognitive and non-cognitive skills and labour market outcomes. Johannesson (2017) found that cognitive abilities and non-cognitive skills (academic self-concept and perseverance) predicted the risk of being unemployed via school grades.  Further, personality, i.e. extraversion and conscientiousness, was demonstrated to lead to higher earnings (Fletcher, 2013). Edin et. al., (2022) found that one standard-deviation increase in cognitive skills is associated with a salary increase of 6.6 percent and an increase in non-cognitive skills is associated with a 7,9 percent salary increase after controlling for educational attainment.

Studies on academic resilience and skill formation are scarcer. Nevertheless, some studies have found that protective factors identified during childhood and youth such as self-control and ability to plan are predictive of a more successful transition into adulthood (see Burt & Paysnick, 2012 for a review). In a qualitative study following up on four resilient students a decade later Morales (2008) found that the students continued to perform at high educational levels. The participants adapted the protective factors identified at the start of the study (i.e. self-confidence and internal locus of control) and used them to meet new challenges.

Employing a resilience perspective, the present study aims to investigate the difference in salary development among individuals who have been identified as being academically resilient versus those who are not. We also want to explore if the salary development can be attributed to educational attainment (educational history) and work status as changing conditions, and cognitive and non-cognitive skills, such as, cognitive ability, perseverance and academic self-concept as time invariant prerequisites. MethodData were retrieved from the Evaluation through Follow-up database (ETF), a longitudinal project built on 10% randomly selected national representative samples of ten birth cohorts in Sweden (Härnqvist, 2000). The sampled students were followed up in grades 3, 6, and 9 of compulsory school (the Swedish school system consists of 9 years of compulsory education from age 7), and in upper secondary school (non-compulsory). Participants are about 9000 individuals born in 1972 from the ETF database. Of these, about 2000 individuals were identified as having low socioeconomic status (i.e., student’s parents only completed compulsory or vocational upper secondary education) and of these about 700 individuals were identified as being resilient (scoring above the country mean on the national standardized test). Academic self-concept (ASC) in grade 6 was measured by three items (e.g. how do you feel about doing maths, reading, writing) answers were given on a three-point scale ranging from difficult to easy. In upper secondary school ASC was measured using three items (e.g. do you experience any problems in math, reading, writing) answers were given on a 4-point scale from completely without problems to very big problems. Perseverance in grade 6 and upper secondary school was measured by four items (e.g. do you give up if you get a difficult task) answers were given on a dichotomous scale. Continuous variables were created for both constructs using the factor scores generated by a principal component analysis. Cognitive ability was measured in grade 6 using tests of inductive ability, spatial ability and verbal ability (antonyms). Information on salary was retrieved from population statistics. Information about the salary for these individuals is available between the years 1988 and 2010. Method of analysis To investigate the salary growth of resilient students multiple group growth model with time varying and time invariant covariates will be used. Growth modelling allows for investigating the development of salary over time for both resilient and non-resilient students, conditioned on the development of individual’s educational attainment and work status, and on their cognitive ability, and personality traits. Academic self-concept and perseverance will be used as time-invariant covariates and educational attainment as time-varying covariates. 

ContributionMathematics is perceived by many students as a particularly difficult subject, and many tend to experience higher levels of anxiety in relation to mathematics compared to other subjects (Goetz et. al., 2007). At the same time, mathematical competencies are fundamental to several aspects of contemporary society (OECD, 2013). Fostering motivation is therefore important for supporting students who experience difficulties in mathematics, especially since motivation is a driving force for learning mathematics over time (Wigfield et al., 2016). A number of studies have shown a positive relationship between motivation and achievement in mathematics, regardless of theoretical approach (e.g., Kriegbaum et. al., 2018; Prast et. al., 2018). Students who are motivated also tend to engage more in mathematical activities because they find them enjoyable and interesting (Eccles & Wigfield, 2004), and the development of motivation for mathematics during elementary school is related to the choice of mathematics-intensive careers (Musu-Gillette et. al., 2015).

One of the most important theories of motivation for mathematics is the Expectancy Value Theory of Motivation (EVM) proposed by Eccles, Wigfield, and colleagues. According to EVM, motivation is a function of a person's expectancy of success and the value they place on the task. Expectancy of success refers to a person's belief in his/her own ability to to successfully complete a task, and value refers to the importance or relevance of the task to the person's goals or interests. Students with a higher expectancy of success and a higher value placed on mathematics tend to have higher motivation and achievement in mathematics (Wigfield et. al., 2016).

Another theory relevant to motivation is Dweck's (1995) theory of implicit intelligence. The theory states that individuals can have implicit beliefs about the nature of intelligence that can be either fixed or malleable. People with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is not changeable, whereas people with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed through effort and learning. Students' implicit beliefs about intelligence are related to both academic achievement and motivation (e.g., Song et al., 2022), implying that students with a growth mindset tend to develop several adaptive academic behaviors, such as higher motivation and achievement, than those with a fixed mindset (Yeager and Dweck, 2012).

Wigfield et al. (2004) hypothesized that Dweck's theory of implicit intelligence is related to EVM in that individuals who believe their abilities cannot be improved through effort will not engage in activities they believe they are not very good at. However, few studies have examined how such motivational beliefs are formed in children. Eccles and Wigfield (2020) proposed in their situated expectancy-value theory (SEVM) that beliefs and values are also shaped by social context, such as family, peers, and culture. In a study of how parental beliefs about fixedness of ability affect interactions with their children, Muenks et al. (2015) found that parents with fixed mindsets engaged in more controlling and achievement-oriented behaviors and were less likely to engage in math-related activities with their children. Although few studies have examined how parents' mindset affects their children's motivation, a study by Song et al. (2022) showed that children reported having greater self-reported persistence when their parents had more growth mindset. Xie et al. (2022) also found that parents' mindset indirectly predicted math anxiety through their failure beliefs.

Thus, the present study aims to investigate the role of parents' beliefs about mathematical ability, i.e., their fixed or growth mindset, in fostering student motivation. Specifically, we focus on parents' beliefs of mathematical ability as innate or malleable, and whether and how parents' mindsets affect students' self-concepts about their ability, value, and achievement of mathematics.

Grounded in ‘expectancy-value’ theory, this paper reports on the psychometric properties of an instrument intended to measure students’ motivation in mathematics. The participants were 2045 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students from Estonia, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and Sweden. The Expectancy-Value Scale (EVS) was found to be suitable for early grades of primary education in measuring competence self-perceptions and subjective task values relative to the mathematics field. The results indicate a good model fit aligned with the expectancy-value theory. The EVS dimensions showed good reliability, and scalar invariance was established. However, findings also indicated high correlations between some of the EVS dimensions, which is well documented for students at this age. The findings are discussed relative to the ‘expectancy-value’ theory framework and students’ age.

Using data from TIMSS 2015, this study investigated determinants of inequality between classrooms in mathematics performance in Sweden. Applying multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance frameworks to identify latent constructs with which to build a two-level structural equation model, this study integrated teacher certification, teacher preparedness and school emphasis on academic success into a model of inequality of outcomes and opportunities. The study found evidence that more socioeconomically advantaged classes had better prepared mathematics teachers. School culture towards academic achievement was not associated with mathematics achievement. Finally, the analyses indicated that substantial inequalities exist for students taught by specialist and non-specialist teachers.

Entrenched socioeconomic inequalities in achievement have been observed in international assessments for decades, with previous research suggesting that these inequalities may be exacerbated by differentiation in the opportunities provided to various social groups. Much previous research in this field has been US-based or subject to measurement issues. This study investigated socioeconomic inequalities in outcomes and opportunities using four cycles of international assessment data across 78 countries. Further, the paper questions whether inequalities in opportunities are related to inequalities in outcomes. The findings indicate global social inequalities in mathematics and science outcomes, while inequality of opportunity was particularly concentrated in economically advanced countries. Little evidence of the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequality in achievement through differentiated educational provision was found.

BACKGROUND: Students with low socio-economic status (SES) are typically depicted as low performers and more likely to fail in school. However, a group of students, despite their background, manage to succeed in school. The capacity to overcome adversities and achieve successful educational outcomes is referred to as Academic Resilience. Research on the relationship between personality traits and academic performance shows that conscientiousness is a crucial factor in predicting academic success and resilience. However, it has also been shown that achievement is a result of an interaction between conscientiousness and students' interest in the subject.

AIMS: The study aims to investigate how students' school-related perseverance and interest predict academic achievement among resilient and non-resilient pupils over time in the Swedish compulsory school setting.

SAMPLE: Study subjects were a subset (N = 1,665) of the sampled compulsory school students from the 1992 birth cohort in the evaluation through follow-up (ETF) database.

METHODS: Multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM) with latent variable interaction was used. Measurement invariance was tested to examine the comparability of the constructs across groups.

RESULTS: The results suggest that resilient students rely heavily on both perseverance of effort and interest in school subjects to succeed in their education. For the non-resilient group, the later perseverance level was conditioned on the level of the interest, and neither their early nor later grade interest was related to their achievement.

CONCLUSIONS: The academically resilient students displayed more consistency in interest and perseverance over time, which might explain their relative success compared to the non-resilient group.

Over the past six decades, the ILSA has changed the landscape of Swedish student assessment in many positive ways; however, it also has identified several areas of problems. In this chapter, we start with a general introduction of Swedish compulsory education system, followed by a retrospective view of the ILSA studies in Sweden, their benefits and drawbacks. This set the scene for student assessment within the framework of ILSA in Sweden today. Further, we elaborate upon the strength and weakness of Swedish grading system and national test system relating to educational quality and equity. While the national assessment systems failed to provide valid information about the trend in academic achievement, ILSA has functioned as an external support monitoring academic outcomes and educational equity over time. We present examples to illustrate the strength in the ILSA studies. Finally, we extend our perspective to the future possibilities and directions that ILSA can contribute to quality assurance in Swedish school system in general and student assessment in particular.