There is a wonderful inherent logic and rationality to maths, and not just with equations. It is a great pity that the department of education is unable or unwilling to apply some of this rationale to dealing with the problem of low pass rates in maths in the country.
In 2006, only 10% of learners took maths on the higher grade. Even more alarming, is that there were 1 000 less passes on the higher grade than the year before.
In brief, the scenario is as follows. The country needs maths skills for future development. The maths failure rate is high. Good maths teachers are few and far between. Most maths teachers in state schools have not been trained in the outcomes-based education (OBE) system. The government’s sector education training authorities (Setas) are perceived to be underperforming, and have not been spending millions of rands earmarked for education and training.
That the situation has deteriorated cannot be disputed. In a chapter, “The State of Mathematics and Science Education: Schools are not Equal”, in the Human Sciences Research Council’s State of the Nation report (2005-2006), Dr Vijay Reddy says by most performance indicators, South Africa is performing poorly in mathematics. And in her six-year trend analysis of the situation, she notes that in 2002 the department of education, in its systemic evaluation, revealed that the national average for numeracy was 30% at the grade three level.
In response, Penny Vinjevold, the Deputy Director General: further education and training in the department of education, says: “It’s a long-term project. You don’t produce maths on the higher grade overnight. The [standard grade] results have been spectacular.” Regarding the 2006 results she adds: “Yes, we are down by about 1 000 on the higher grade. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps the paper was harder…there is a maths teacher situation…”
Vinjevold says the government will train 2 400 teachers in a special course in 2007. There will be 80 master teachers teaching these 2 400 teachers.
“Yes, it is a worrying situation and we are concerned. The maths story is not a new one, it’s old. And it’s not just South Africa that has this problem, it’s the whole world,” she says, adding that countries from other parts of the world are recruiting South African teachers.
However, all countries are not in the same boat as South Africa. Take Singapore for example – number one in the world for maths in a survey of 49 countries. Lynne Rivett-Carnac, principal of an independent school and a maths educator, says the Singaporean department of education recently produced mathematics material for each of the seven primary grades. “Each year the teacher receives a standard text book, extra support material for a week, extension material for the bright pupils and a homework pack which compliments the day’s lesson.”
The materials are slick and brightly coloured, the examples are clear, and the resource material make maths look like fun. Singapore teachers are not only trained in general degrees, but also specialise in one subject. Their resource material is wonderful, and parents take an active role in assisting their children with, for example, rote- learning their times tables.
When Rivett-Carnac visited the United Kingdom she observed that the grade 4, 5 and 6 teachers were grateful to have their lessons prepared for them and to have a structure that enabled them to give an hour’s lesson that would engage all the pupils.
She said: “The reality at South African schools is that, at primary level, there are almost no teachers who have any tertiary mathematics training [at state schools]. To expect these teachers to teach mathematics constructively, without the necessary support material, is totally unrealistic.”
Maths educator Floyd Mathibela, a lecturer at Tsiba College in the Western Cape who has taught maths to primary school learners, says his love for the subject began at the age of about four, and “the curiosity never ended”. He is currently a member of the Mathematics Olympiad Committee, whose goals include “demystifying the stigma that is attached to maths as being elitist and for the select few”.
He feels that there are a few reasons for the dismal pass rate in maths. For one, maths is perceived as a language that can only be understood if one understands English. “From my experience in teaching, I have found that scholars who struggle with maths do so as a result of not understanding the fundamental concepts that ought to be in place at an elementary level.”
Despite opposition from many quarters, Mathibela feels that a feasible solution lies in ensuring that the proposed department of education initiative to provide elementary education in the mother tongue is implemented with the greatest care. “Black learners are struggling with maths due to the double-whammy of first having to understand English and then the maths behind every concept.” He has also observed that not enough resources are being invested in a practical adult education system that would help in fostering a culture of learning.
Clearly, there are many ways to tackle the problem: invest in learning materials; train more maths teachers; pay teachers better; train teachers in the OBE system, or scrap the system if it is not producing good pass rates; and get rid of the non-performing Setas – rather give the money to the private sector to run massive teacher training programmes.
Lastly, tackle the problem like it is the crisis that it is, rather than view it as an “old story”.