In the contemporary era, the important advancements in technology are closely connected with the paramount importance of achievements in mathematics and sciences disciplines. The current societal landscape, characterized by technological progress and the prevalence of a data-driven environment, underscores the increasing importance of mathematical and scientific knowledge.

Mathematics is acknowledged as the foundational language supporting all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. Numerous stakeholders have underscored the imperative for a nation to enhance the mathematical skills and proficiency of its students (Mujtaba et al., 2014).

In a study analyzing TIMSS 2019 data for Turkey, teacher practices such as relating to daily life and prior knowledge, responding to student needs  and encouraging  students  to participate in the discussion predicted  mathematics  achievement and explained the one-fifth of the between-schools variance (Sezer & Cakan, 2022).

Also, activities such as asking students to complete challenging exercises, which required them to go beyond the instruction, was an important predictor of mathematics achievement and had a positive relationship in 8th-grade (Sezer & Cakan, 2022). In Sweden, an analysis of TIMSS 2019 data showed that teaching activities such as asking to memorize formulas and listening to the teacher were positive predictors  of  TIMSS  8th-grade  mathematics achievement, whereas relating information to daily life was a negative predictor (Eriksson et al., 2019).

The present study aims to investigate the extent to which specific teacher actions rated by students are predicting the Romanian students’ achievement in TIMSS 2019. Results could identify specific actions that could influence student achievement and propose those actions for further research and improvement. 

Therefore, the research questions guiding the present study are as follows:

RQ.1 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ mathematics achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.2 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ physics achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.3 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ chemistry achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.4 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ biology achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.5 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ earth sciences achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

In this transversal study we investigated to what extent Romanian students’ achievement in TIMSS 2019 could be predicted by context factors related to teaching actions as perceived by the students. Socio-economic status was also included in the regression model, because it’s a variable known to have a strong positive relationship with students’ mathematics and science achievement in previous TIMSS cycles. The study sample was established following a random probability sampling process. All the schools in Romania that had the eighth grade in their composition were taken into consideration, each school having an equal chance of being chosen. Following this sampling process, a sample consisting of 199 public schools resulted. From these schools, 4,485 students (14-15 years) participated in the study. Most of the schools participating in the study are located in small towns or villages (40.7%), followed by those in the urban area (26.3%), the suburban area (9.8%), respectively the rural area, with difficult access (7.2%). Data collection was carried out through two methods: administering tests to students in mathematics and sciences and the administration of context questionnaires to students. All test booklets and context questionnaires were applied on the same day. Firstly, the test booklets were applied and then the context questionnaires. During the test period, the students were supervised by a teacher who didn’t have classes with the tested students. The study was performed using TIMSS 2019 data from the official website of TIMSS (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 2021). Student achievement test results for Romanian students and the 8th-grade student questionnaire were used as data sources. From the student questionnaire we extracted the following variables to be investigated as predictors: Working on problems on their own (only in math); Conducting experiments (only in sciences); Teaching actions as observed by students - each item from the composition of the Instructional Clarity scale. Frequency of homework. Socio-economic status, which is a composite measure of number of books in the home, number of home study supports and education level of parents was used as a control variable in the regression analyses. The statistical procedures conducted were descriptive analysis (frequencies and percentages) and multiple simple regression for identifying the predictors of Romanian students’ achievement in TIMSS 2019.

The extent in which students work on their own during mathematics classes moderately predicts student achievement in mathematics. Romanian students who work more on their own have on average higher mathematics achievement in TIMSS 2019. At the same time, conducting experiments during science classes is not predicting achievement in any of the science disciplines (i.e., biology, physics, chemistry, earth sciences). From the teaching actions that were rated by students, the level of teachers being supportive in learning is a significant and moderate negative predictor of the students’ achievement in mathematics and biology. Another predictor is the level of teachers linking new lessons to previous acquisitions, predicting student achievement in mathematics, physics and chemistry. The last predictor related to teaching observed by students is the level of teachers being easily understood, which has a significant but relatively low prediction effect on achievement in mathematics, chemistry and biology. The frequency of homework received negatively predicted students’ achievement in biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences, and did not predict achievement in mathematics at all. For sciences, the more homework they receive for a respective discipline, the lower student achievement in that discipline. TIMSS 2019 results offer a strong basis for decision-making based on scientific evidence to improve educational policies and practices related to teaching and learning mathematics and sciences. Through the proposed research, we hope to come to the aid of teachers with results that will help them to make their teaching methods more efficient in the classroom in order to improve the results of students in mathematics and science, thus making it possible to increase the advanced benchmark.

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