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IPS215 Elizabeth S. et al.
mathematics, mathematics courses and career paths that require mathematics
skills [10].
This paper investigates data from secondary school students participating
in the 2012 and 2015 PISA studies to assess gender differences in attitudes,
learning methods and anxieties of students towards mathematics.

2. Methodology
Data Sources
Data will be used from the Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) study which is intended to assess educational systems by
measuring 15-year-old school students' scholastic performance on
mathematics, science, and reading and is held every three years. The PISA
study is a comparative study of student achievement directed by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among
students who are nearing the end of their compulsory schooling in most
participating educational systems to determine how prepared they are to use
the knowledge and skills in particular areas to meet real-life opportunities and
challenges [4]. PISA assesses a random sample of 15-year-old students, drawn
from a nationally representative sample of schools. In Australia and is
managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) [4].
2012 PISA Dataset: For the present study, data from 14 481 secondary
school students participating in PISA 2012 study in Australia were analysed in
terms of their mathematics anxiety, which formed a focus of the 2012 study.
The study also measured students’ mathematical literacy in terms of several
mathematical techniques (including the mathematical formulation of
scenarios; the use of mathematical concepts and methods in mathematics; and
the interpretation and application of mathematical solutions) and topics
(including relationships; aspects of space and shape; quantification; data and
uncertainty) [4]. Mathematics performance was measured using a total score
representing the number of administered questions, covering all of these
mathematical techniques and topics, which were answered correctly. The total
scores were used as the main outcome variable for the present study. The
questionnaire developed by PISA also contains information on mathematics
anxiety with students asked to report their level of agreement with two items
relating to mathematics anxiety: ‘worry that mathematics classes will be
difficult’, and ‘get very tense when they have to do mathematics homework’.
The possible responses options for each question were presented as four
categories: strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree. Student
responses about their feelings of stress associated with anticipating
mathematical tasks and while attempting to solve mathematics problems were
used to identify students’ specific level of anxiety towards mathematics

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