Why some students excel in mathematics: growth mindset, intrinsic motivation, and school autonomy in top-performing Asian and Western economies.
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| Title: | Why some students excel in mathematics: growth mindset, intrinsic motivation, and school autonomy in top-performing Asian and Western economies. |
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| Authors: | Zhu, Yuanyi1 (AUTHOR) zxy1zyy@163.com, Guo, Luyang2 (AUTHOR) guoluyang@um.edu.mo |
| Source: | Large-scale Assessments in Education. 4/12/2026, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p1-24. 24p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Intrinsic motivation, *School autonomy, *Cognitive development, *Mathematical ability testing, *Educational intervention, Cross-cultural studies |
| Geographic Terms: | Singapore, South Korea, Ireland |
| Company/Entity: | Programme for International Student Assessment |
| Abstract: | Mathematical proficiency in adolescence is crucial for both individual success and national economic development; yet few studies have examined cross-national differences in how achievement-related beliefs, motivations, and institutional factors affect mathematical outcomes. Specifically, this study filled the gap by investigating the impact of growth mindset, intrinsic motivation, and school autonomy on students' mathematics performance across five top-performing Asian (Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Korea) and five top-performing Western (Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Poland) education systems. We used the Programme for International Student Assessment 2022 dataset (N = 66,789) and multilevel mediation analyses to reveal that (a) growth mindset was positively associated with mathematics performance in all five Western economies and two Asian economies (Singapore and Taipei). (b) Intrinsic motivation mediated the pathway from growth mindset to mathematics performance in four Western economies (Ireland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Poland) and all five Asian economies. (c) School autonomy exhibited context-dependent moderating effects, strengthening the influence of growth mindset in Korea while amplifying the association between intrinsic motivation and mathematics performance in Singapore. This study highlights the importance of aligning educational interventions that target students' motivational beliefs with the cultural and institutional contexts in which they are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Large-scale Assessments in Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 192924687 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1186/s40536-026-00295-w Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 24 StartPage: 1 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Intrinsic motivation Type: general – SubjectFull: School autonomy Type: general – SubjectFull: Cognitive development Type: general – SubjectFull: Mathematical ability testing Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational intervention Type: general – SubjectFull: Cross-cultural studies Type: general – SubjectFull: Singapore Type: general – SubjectFull: South Korea Type: general – SubjectFull: Ireland Type: general – SubjectFull: Programme for International Student Assessment Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Why some students excel in mathematics: growth mindset, intrinsic motivation, and school autonomy in top-performing Asian and Western economies. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Zhu, Yuanyi – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Guo, Luyang IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 12 M: 04 Text: 4/12/2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 21960739 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 14 – Type: issue Value: 1 Titles: – TitleFull: Large-scale Assessments in Education Type: main |
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