Examined how encouragement and teachers' expectations influenced the way female students actively position themselves as high achievers in science classrooms. Results with 43 Year 10 Australian students show the importance of encouragement in student attitudes about science achievement. (SLD)

Changes in student perceptions over the first year of high school and the interrelations of student and student-reported mother, father, and teacher perceptions form the basis of this study. Self- and task-perceptions as well as utility judgments are measured in two subject domains, mathematics and English, since the transition to high school has…