Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to reveal the determination of factors and differences at student and school level associated with mathematical literacy performance of Finn and Turkish students attending PISA 2012 application. In line with this purpose, the variables - pre-school education, parents’ occupations, parents’ educational level, socio-cultural index, the quality of domestic educational resources, weekly mathematical study duration, feeling adequate for mathematics, self-confidence in mathematics, discipline circumstances in classroom and the use of technology at schoolwhich have relation to the student have been taken into consideration. And the variables related to school are school’s location, the number of students at school, the frequency of evaluations used at school and the quality of educational resources at school. Hierarchicall Linear Model has been used by the researcher to achieve his purpose. According to the results conducted and PISA results, pre-school education is the most important of the primary variables associated with mathematical literacy. The mathematical success of students who have pre-school education is higher than those who haven‟t it. Of the variable parents‟ educational levels, mother‟s education level has shown a positive relation with mathematical literacy for Finland. Similarly, the variable parents‟ occupation has shown a meaningful positive relation with mathematical literacy. In other words, it has been observed that the mathematical literacy of children from upper socio-economic level is high in a meaningful way. In parallel with these results, when the relation between socio-cultural index and mathematical literacy is examined, a meaningful relation between them will be seen. As the quality of domestic educational resources increases, the mathematical viii literacy increases as well, according to Turkey PISA 2012 study.The variables feeling adequate for mathematics and selfconfidence in mathematics are among the other important variables associated with mathematical literacy. A meaningful relation has been observed between the variables feeling adequate for mathematics and selfconfidence in mathematics for both Turkey and Finland. Discipline circumstances in mathematics course have shown a meaningful relation with mathematical success for Turkey. Moreover, it has shown a meaningful relation for Finland. And the variable using technology as an entertainment tool has no relation with mathematical success in Turkey; however, it has a negative relation in Finland. Also, when the school variables are examined, a positive relation is observed between the size of the place in which the school is located and mathematical literacy for Finland. The variable student number at a school has shown a negative relation for Turkey, but it has been observed that there isn’t a meaningful relation at high level for Finland. The variable frequency of evaluations used at school has been found meaningful in a positive way for Turkey. The common impact results of student and school level variables have been examined. For Turkey, as the size of the place in which the school is located turns into a big city, an increase in classroom discipline and mathematics studying duration is observed. The other meaningful variables apart from school’s location associated with mathematical literacy for Turkey are pre-school education, mother’s occupation, socio-cultural index and domestic educational resources. As a result of the data collected, precautions which reduce differentiation among schools can be taken. The awareness of families can be raised in regard to important impacts of family education level and socio-cultural index on mathematical literacy. Intraclass activities can be paid more attention by encouraging students to feel themselves adequate and have self-confidence. The awareness of students can be raised so that they can use technology for educational purposes.

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