DETERMINANTS OF POOR PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS IN PRIMARY BASIC EDUCATION: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Abstract

The teaching of Mathematics in primary education is fundamental, as this initial stage develops skills such as logical thinking, problem-solving ability, and critical reasoning. In this regard, maintaining good academic performance in this area constitutes a task that students must fulfill with the guidance of teachers. However, it is necessary to state that, according to the results of recent studies using standardized tests, this is not happening. Factors emerging as obstacles to motivation and participation in activities proposed by teachers, highlighting the need to study this phenomenon and have information available to design pedagogical and didactic actions to overcome low performance in Mathematics. Therefore, this review article aims to analyze and synthesize the causes contributing to low performance in this area among primary education students, considering pedagogical, socioeconomic, emotional, and contextual factors that affect learning. For this purpose, a critical review is proposed as the method, which allows for summarizing reports, articles, and research published in the last five years (2020-2025) on the selected categories of analysis: pedagogical, socioeconomic, contextual factors, among others, which are considered causes of low performance in Mathematics at the primary education level. The results of the critical review allow us to conclude that academic performance is holistic and, therefore, when failures occur in student performance, an analysis must encompass different dimensions of the formative process. This analysis should not focus solely on the student but also on their family, social, and school environment, in addition to institutional aspects such as traditional methodologies that demotivate students.