Experiences of teachers in teaching mathematical literacy in the further education and training phase

This study investigated the relationship between teachers’ demographic data and their experiences in teaching Mathematical Literacy (ML) in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase. It also investigated participants’ experiences when teaching ML in the FET Phase and the strategies they used during this process. The introduction of ML in 2006 in South African schools by the Department of Basic Education was largely aimed at capacitating South African citizens with knowledge and skills to contribute to a democratic society and economy. Despite curriculum developers’ claim that they had streamlined the ML curricula, teachers lacked the experience to teach ML. The study was conducted in the King Cetshwayo District in the KwaZulu Natal province. Purposive sampling was used to select a population of 301 teachers and a sample size of 150 teachers with first-hand experience of teaching mathematical literacy in the FET phase was used. The positivism paradigm framed this study when measuring participants’ perceptions of experiences in teaching ML in the FET phase. The quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire and a descriptive research design was used. The findings revealed that teachers must possess strong mathematical knowledge and that ML teachers must integrate ML with other subjects to put mathematics content into real-life contexts. Half of the study sample were under the age of 40 years and most of them were females; implying that young teachers were engaged in the teaching ML. The study showed that participants’ experiences in teaching ML ranged between 0-13 years and most of them have a university degree; implying that they are highly educated. There were 141 respondents, out of 150, who were of the African race and 9 mixed-race respondents. The study recommends that in-service teachers must be retrained to improve the facilitation and understanding of the subject content and the ability to select and implement effective ML teaching strategies. The Department of Education should conduct workshops regularly and provide adequate resources to support ML teachers.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Zululand

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Memela, Patience Nompumelelo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sibaya, D.C.

• Mathematical literacy
• Teachers’ experiences
• Further Education and Training (FET)

Licence

• https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/d85ce1ce-ec73-4fc6-b44b-16352a597d85/download