ABSTRACT
The contents of the influential Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (Grouws, 1992) illustrate clearly the wide range of factors believed to influence mathematics learning. In addition to learner and classroom-related variables, reference is also made to the importance of the broad social context in which learning takes place. For example, the comprehensive model proposed by Eccles (1985) to explain students’ decisions to enrol in mathematics courses (or opt out of them) includes the cultural milieu, the value-system adopted by, or attributed to, important socializers, as well as students’ perceptions of the social climate in which educational and career choices are made.
