Does SA have a math problem?

The level of mathematics education in the majority of South African schools is not what it should be says Professor Johann Engelbrecht, Executive Director at the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF).

The quality and status of mathematics teachers are very important factors in order to improve the poor state of mathematics education.

Engelbrecht feels quite strongly that the country needs to address a number of issues to improve what he calls the ‘disfunctional education system’.

In the majority of schools the level of mathematics education is not what it should be.”

Proof of this variance in performance includes the following:

• In 2014, South Africa’s mathematics and science education was rated last of 148 countries by a World Economics Forum report, behind countries such as Haiti, Lesotho, Chad, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
• In 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2011 South Africa was rated last or second last of all countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in mathematics for grade 8 pupils and fell in the group ”significantly lower than the international average”.
• On the other hand South Africa performs quite well in the International Mathematical Olympiad. In 2014 the country was ranked 63rd out of about 100 countries and in 2015 we were 55th.

Prof Engelbrecht believes the poor state of mathematics in schools can be addressed by firstly raising the status of mathematics teachers.

We need the top people in our generation to teach the next generation and currently very few of our good high school pupils aspire to become teachers.

“At the same time we should embark on continuous professional development to improve the quality of many of our current teachers, especially regarding their content knowledge.

“Other factors such as the overfull curricula and the technical nature of school mathematics are also contributing to the poor state of mathematics,” he explains.

More time needs to be invested in developing in-depth understanding of mathematics which is a very important aspect in such a conceptual subject.

To address this problem, pupils need more exposure to “competition mathematics” in order to help them to start thinking out-of-the-box and help prepare them to become problem solvers.

Currently the subject Mathematics is trying to address the needs of too wide a spectrum of pupils. The curriculum is so full that teachers barely scrape through the syllabus, with little time to develop deep understanding of mathematical concepts.

Prof Engelbrecht firmly believes we should make provision for two grade twelve subjects in mathematics.

The majority of pupils can then do only one subject with a narrower curriculum than the current subject, allowing more pupils to succeed.

Students who want to continue with some mathematics on a tertiary level should be allowed to include two mathematics subjects in their grade 12 package to prepare them sufficiently for what they will need at university.

The SAMF can contribute as follows:

• Teacher development: By running teacher development programmes, especially in problem solving mathematics, we can contribute to improving teacher quality. Teachers require sound content knowledge in mathematics.
• Olympiads: Through our olympiad activities, pupils are exposed to problem solving strategies. These activities should be expanded to include all pupils in the country.
• Training programmes for pupils: Our current problem solving training programmes should be expanded to give more pupils exposure to the full spectrum of mathematics and not only the technical side of the subject
• Coordinating interventions by other role players: SAMF as the official body that represents mathematics in the country should become the coordinator of all interventions run by other role players such as NGO’s. In this way we can ensure that interventions make a difference to the mathematics situation in the country.