Factors influencing the transition to university service mathematics: Part 2 a qualitative study

Aqualitative study was carried out by the authors into the influence of affective variables, the role of conceptions of mathematics and approaches to learning on students in the transition to service mathematics at the University of Limerick. The study is a follow-up study to an earlier quantitative study. The studies focus on first year Science, Engineering and Technological Mathematics students. This second part of the research, through the use of semi-structured interviews, aims to gain further insight into the impact of the aforementioned factors on students in their first year of university Service mathematics. This article reports on the consequences of the findings and enables us to envisage the problems thatmay arise in the future formathematics education in Ireland.