The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.
This article reports on the design and findings of the first iteration of a classroom-based design research project which endeavours to design a professional development intervention for teachers’ mathematical problem-solving pedagogy. The major outcome of this study is the generation of design principles that can be used by other researchers developing a professional development (PD) intervention for mathematical problem-solving pedagogy. This study contributes to the mathematical problem-solving pedagogy and PD body of knowledge by working with teachers in an under-researched environment (an informal settlement in Gauteng, South Africa). In this iteration, two experienced Grade 9 mathematics teachers and their learners at a public secondary school in Gauteng, South Africa, participated in a 6-month intervention. Findings from the data are discussed in light of their implications for the next cycle and other PD studies.
Problem-solving is of importance in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Nevertheless, a baseline investigation conducted in 2016 revealed that mathematical problem-solving is virtually missing in South African classrooms. In this regard, a two-cycle design-based research project was conducted to develop a professional development (PD) intervention that can be used to bolster Grade 9 South African teachers’ mathematical problem-solving pedagogy (MPSP). This article discusses the factors that emerged as fundamental to such a PD intervention. Four teachers at public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa, who were purposively selected, participated in this qualitative research study of a naturalistic inquiry. Teachers attended PD workshops for six months where PD activities that were relevant to their context were implemented. Between the PD workshops, teachers were encouraged to put into practice the new ideas on MPSP. Qualitative data were gathered through reflective interviews and classroom observations which were audio-recorded with teachers’ consent. Data were analysed through grounded theory techniques using constant comparison. The findings from the study suggested that teachers’ personal meaning, reflective inquiry, and collaborative learning are factors fundamental to their professional growth in MPSP. The major recommendation from the study is that facilitators of PD must acknowledge these factors to promote teachers’ professional growth in MPSP. If PD processes and activities are relevant to teachers’ personal meaning, reflective inquiry, and collaborative learning, teachers find the PD programme fulfilling and meaningful. This study contributes to the PD in MPSP body of knowledge by having worked with teachers in an under-researched context of historical disadvantage.
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