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It is commonly recognized that test performance is influenced by both cognitive ability and motivational factors. To explore this phenomenon, a random sample of 15-year-old Swedish students (n = 5504), whose PISA 2018 results were linked to national registry data, was analyzed. Students' PISA performance was regressed on their self-reported test-taking effort in PISA, their national test scores in corresponding subject domains, and the interaction between these variables. Results reveal that test-taking effort had an independent influence on PISA scores after controlling for high-stakes test results (β = 0.15). More importantly, the relationship between the high-stakes national test and the low-stakes PISA was stronger at higher levels of effort (interaction coefficient; β = 0.05). Students who report low effort underperform in PISA by approximately one-third of a school year's learning gain, emphasizing the role of effort in obtaining an accurate assessment of ability. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Although there is a discourse among politicians, school leaders, and teachers that students in vocational education and training (VET) programmes in upper secondary school are less motivated than students in higher education preparatory (HEP) programmes there are few large-scale studies comparing differences and similarities within and between these two groups of students. The aim of this study was to investigate and problematize differences in goal orientation and subject specific interest between students entering VET and HEP programmes. The study is based on questionnaire responses from 4262 students in last year of lower secondary school and administrative data on which upper secondary school program these students graduated from. Initial analysis showed that, as a group, students later entering VET programmes embrace motivational goals to a lesser extent and found most subjects less interesting than students later entering HEP programmes. However more nuanced analysis gave reasons to problematize the colloquial meaning of motivation and to the question the dichotomic division of programmes into VET and HEP.

The current study assessed reliability and validity evidence of the shortened Swedish Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale—Elementary (MARS-E), using data from three time points. After initial pilot tests, a total of 429 students participated in the study, completing the MARS-E twice during grade 4 and once during grade 5. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a one-factor structure at each timepoint. The scale displayed both longitudinal and gender measurement invariance across timepoints, ensuring both stability and fairness across gender and time. Factor correlations with criterion variables were examined, revealing a strong correlation between math anxiety (MA) and test anxiety (TA) (r = 0.707). However, the two constructs had distinct relationships to other criterion variables, such as math performance (rma = − 0.343, rta = − 0.110) and self-concept in math (rma = − 0.580, rta = − 0.273). Gender correlations provided evidence of girls being more strongly associated with higher math anxiety scores compared to boys. The current paper provides evidence of the Swedish MARS-E as a valid, easily interpreted, unidimensional instrument for measuring math anxiety in Swedish primary school students. Additionally, the study highlights the gender disparities concerning math anxiety as early as grades 4 and 5.

Social responsibility goals have shown positive relationships with performance and well-being. However, being too diligent has also been raised as a possible contributing factor to students’ reports of feeling stress and pressure in school, as well as experiencing psychosomatic problems. This study investigates the long-term associations between students’ social responsibility goals, academic achievements, and psychosomatic problems from Grade 9 (n = 4,573) to Grade 12 (n = 3,552), and gender differences in these associations. Descriptive statistics showed that girls reported more psychosomatic problems, higher social responsibility goals, and higher GPAs. Structural equation models showed that psychosomatic problems and achievement were stable over time. Social responsibility goals were associated with less psychosomatic problems and higher achievement in Grade 9. For girls, higher achievement was also associated with psychosomatic problems. Social responsibility goals did not predict later achievement, yet they predicted future psychosomatic problems, although the prediction was significant only for boys.

This study aims to assess student motivation to provide valid responses to the PISA student questionnaire. This was done by modeling response times using a three-component finite mixture model, comprising two satisficing response styles (rapid and idle) and one optimizing response style. Each participant’s motivation was operationalized as their probability of providing an optimizing response to questionnaire items. Overall, the model offered a good fit to the data. Results indicate that most responders were motivated to optimize, with a slight decline toward the end. Further, results showed a positive effect of questionnaire-taking motivation on PISA performance, suggesting a positive relationship to test-taking motivation. In conclusion, response times can be valuable indicators for assessing survey response quality and may serve as a proxy for test-taking motivation.

Background. There is ample evidence that motivational variables such as self-beliefs and mastery goals are important non-cognitive aspects for student learning and performance in school (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020; Linnenbrink-Garcia, Tyson & Patall, 2008). Likewise, research has consistently shown positive relationships between cognitive ability and achievement in school (Kriegbaum, Becker, & Spinath, 2018). Studies using both sets of variables have indicated that self-beliefs and motivation does have a significant effect on performance, but that this effect is often weak compared to the effect of cognitive ability and other aptitude measures (Kriegbaum, Becker, & Spinath, 2018). However, most previous research has been cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies on “what causes what and which variables are more important in the long run?” are not entirely conclusive and mostly based on small sampled assessed over a short time period. Thus, how relationships between early performance, motivational aspects and later performance look like is still less well known.

Purpose. The current study aimed to investigate whether students’ self-beliefs and mastery goals have an impact on later achievement over and above that of previous achievement and cognitive ability, and also whether previous achievement may have an impact of later self-beliefs and mastery goals. In essence, what role do these motivational beliefs seem to play during the course of schooling; how do they affect and how are they affected by cognitive outcomes in school?

Data and methodology. A longitudinal data set with 2,256 students assessed at three time points over six years was used. Data contained performance measures as well as motivational measures: information about cognitive ability (inductive reasoning and vocabulary) in grade 6 and national test scores in mathematics and the Swedish language in grade 9 and 12; measures of self-beliefs in these school subjects in grades 6, 9, and 12; and measures of mastery goals in grades 6 and 9. Methodologically, longitudinal structural equation modelling (an autoregressive cross-lagged panel path model with control variables) was used to investigate relationships between the different variables over time. Models were set up for both mathematics and Swedish language.

Findings. Autoregressive paths showed that earlier mastery goals and self-beliefs were strong predictors of later mastery goals and self-beliefs. Cognitive ability (inductive reasoning in the math model and vocabulary in the Swedish model) in grade 6 was predictive of national test scores in the respective subject in grade 9, while national test scores in grade 9 were moderate predictors of national test scores in grade 12. Findings further indicate that self-beliefs in grade 6 were significantly related to national test scores in grade 9, which in turn were significantly related to self-beliefs in grade 12. This was true for both math and Swedish. Within each time point, there were positive and significant correlations between all measured variables. For math, neither earlier self-beliefs nor mastery goals was significantly related to math score in grade 12. For Swedish, mastery goal orientation in grade 9 had a significant but weak effect on test score in grade 12.

Discussion and conclusion. As expected, findings suggest that earlier performance is a stonger predictor of later performance than motivational variables are. However, a more interesting finding is that motivational variables can be significant predictors over and above that of previous performance even over the long time spans that we have studied. For example, our models show that subject-specific self-beliefs in grade 6 seem to have an effect on subject-specific performance three years later, also when the effect of cognitive ability and current self-beliefs have been accounted for. This suggests that the skills and knowledge the students bring to school need not be decisive of later performance, but that other variables can contribute to academic improvement over time. Also, performance in Grade 9 had a positive effect on self-beliefs in Grade 12, indicating a reciprocal relationship. Overall, findings indicate that motivational aspects may be important for scholastic achievement ‘in the long run’. Motivational components feed into both learning and assessment in school, a changing assessment system and assessment practices may also consider incorporating assessment of student motivations and attitudes, and teachers may need encouragement in fostering sound self-beliefs in students.

Each time new PISA results are presented, they gain a lot of attention. However, there are many factors that lie behind the results, and they get less attention. In this study, we take a person-centered approach and focus on students’ motivation and beliefs, and how these predict students’ effort and performance on the PISA 2015 assessment of scientific literacy. Moreover, we use both subjective (self-report) and objective (time-based) measures of effort, which allows us to compare these different types of measures. Latent profile analysis was used to group students in profiles based on their instrumental motivation, enjoyment, interest, self-efficacy, and epistemic beliefs (all with regard to science). A solution with four profiles proved to be best. When comparing the effort and performance of these four profiles, we saw several significant differences, but many of these differences disappeared when we added gender and the PISA index of economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS) as control variables. The main difference between the profiles, after adding control variables, was that the students in the profile with most positive motivation and sophisticated epistemic beliefs performed best and put in the most effort. Students in the profile with unsophisticated epistemic beliefs and low intrinsic values (enjoyment and interest) were most likely to be classified as low-effort responders. We conclude that strong motivation and sophisticated epistemic beliefs are important for both the effort students put into the PISA assessment and their performance, but also that ESCS had an unexpectedly large impact on the results.

It is well established that math anxiety has a negative relationship with math performance (MP). A few theories have provided explanations for this relationship. One of them, the Attentional Control Theory (ACT), suggests that anxiety can negatively impact the attentional control system and increase one's attention to threat-related stimuli. Within the ACT framework, the math anxiety (MA)—working memory (WM) relationship is argued to be critical for math performance. The present meta-analyses provides insights into the mechanisms of the MA—MP relation and the mediating role of WM. Through database searches with pre-determined search strings, 1,346 unique articles were identified. After excluding non-relevant studies, data from 57 studies and 150 effect sizes were used for investigating the MA—MP correlation using a random-effects model. This resulted in a mean correlation of r = −0.168. The database search of WM as a mediator for the MA—MP relation revealed 15 effects sizes leading to a descriptive rather than a generalizable statistic, with a mean indirect effect size of −0.092. Overall, the results confirm the ACT theory, WM does play a significant role in the MA—MP relationship.

Student motivation and self-beliefs in relation to school are important constructs when it comes to student learning and achievement. Adaptive motivational dispositions can be valued not only as predictors of performance but also as outcomes of schooling. Thus, it is not surprising that ILSAs from the very start have attempted to assess aspects related to student motivation and self-beliefs in addition to scholastic proficiency and literacy.

In this chapter, the motivational frameworks used in different ILSAs, with emphasis on those used in PISA and TIMSS/PIRLS, are briefly described together with the characteristics of contemporary motivation theory in order to give a context to research that has been published on the topic.

The main part of this chapter is then devoted to a review of findings from studies using ILSA data to explore motivational aspects such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-concept, and self-efficacy. The ambition is not to cover all existing research across time and ILSAs but rather to provide a representative and informative overview of salient research questions and main findings in relation to student motivation and beliefs in ILSA studies. In particular, findings regarding the relevance of motivational constructs for student achievement are reviewed across studies and contexts.

On a more general level, an attempt is also made to situate the ILSA motivation research within the larger achievement motivation research field. It will be argued that provided that the measured motivational constructs are properly defined and operationalized, secondary analyses using ILSA data can contribute to motivation research, in particular regarding the generalizability and universality of theoretical assumption and corroboration of findings using large-scale data.