Studying attitudes and their important role in learning Mathematics has been one of the concerns of research over the last fifty years. Nowadays research still deals with attitudes, but a new focus of interest comes to light: studying the differences between male and female attitudes and the reasons for that. Some existing studies state that females perceive themselves as less competent than males do in learning Mathematics but those studies are still not conclusive. Data also suggest that over school years students' attitudes grow more and more negative. The present study highlights the differences in attitudes towards Mathematics according to gender and school year in the Spanish educational context.
attitudes towards mathematics; gender; school achievement
