Abstract
The influence of parental aspirations on adolescent students’ dispositions to study further mathematics in Higher Education (HE) has not been investigated thoroughly. The aim of this PhD study is to investigate students’ perceptions of parental influence on their dispositions to study further maths both quantitatively and qualitatively. A scale was designed to measure students’ perceived parental aspirations, motivation to learn mathematics and maths self-efficacy. The questionnaire was distributed to 300 students in Cyprus and the statistical results indicated that parental influence was not statistically significant (p=0.98). Moreover 22 students’ perceptions of parental influence were examined through individual interviews. We argue that parental influence is subconscious and we draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital to discuss the findings.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 29(2) |
| Editors | M Joubert |
| Publisher | British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2009 |