Lyn Webb

Teacher training for mathematical literacy: A case study taking the past into the future

With the advent of the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications policy (MRTEQ), higher education institutions (HEIs) are rethinking curricula for teacher training in order to enable entree for in-service teachers to reskill, retrain and have access to higher qualifications. In the field of mathematical literacy (ML), most teacher training has been offered via government-funded Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) qualifications, which have now largely been phased out. In this article we examine two ACE ML programmes offered in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in order to present some lessons that have been learnt. We put forward some elements that we consider to be essential for training ML teachers and also raise concerns about future training of ML teachers.

The use of cartoons as a tool to support teacher ownership of mathematics curriculum change

In South Africa teachers are faced with the introduction of yet another revised curriculum. Higher education institutes are developing programmes to help teachers through the transition. This article describes such an intervention. The research addresses the question: how could mathematical reasoning cartoons be used as a tool to support teacher ownership of curriculum change? The article reports on three action research iterations in which qualified and experienced mathematics teachers are introduced to the use of reasoning cartoons during a short learning programme targeting the development of teachers’ ownership of curriculum change. Rainer and Matthewss ownership of learning framework is adapted and used as a theoretical lens to provide indicators of teachers’ ownership of curriculum change. Data were collected from audio-taped discussions in groups and teachers’ written reflections concerning the introduction of reasoning cartoons, using the tenets of exploratory talk, into their classes. The results indicate that, after the first iteration, where cartoons developed commercially in the UK were introduced, teachers demonstrated that they could move from a didactic to a dialogic environment where spaces were created for all participants to speak and to listen. When cartoon content was drawn from the current South African curriculum, the teachers were able to introduce a largely teacher-centred approach to implementing the curriculum. However, it was only when the teachers took ownership of their own cartoon construction that they manifested the majority of indicators of ownership of curriculum change. The research suggests that teachers can use a mediating artefact to enable them to embrace curriculum changes imposed from the top down.

Developing Mathematical Reasoning in English Second-Language Classrooms Based on Dialogic Practices

International mobility has often resulted in minority immigrant pupils in many countries being immersed in a foreign language (Moschkovich, 2007). In such cases the immigrants’ main language is used only in their homes or constrained social environments, and additional transition from their main language to the official language of the country is facilitated by hearing and seeing the language around them – and the very real necessity of understanding and being understood.

Conflicting Perspectives of Power, Identity, Access and Language Choice in Multilingual Teachers’ Voices

Teachers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa teach mainly in English, which is not their home language. In order to elicit their inner voices about language conflicts and contradictions in their classrooms they were encouraged to write poetry about their perceptions of the impact of language in their lives. The most prevalent contradiction they expressed was the power and dominance of English juxtaposed against the subordination of their home languages. English gave them access to education and upward employment mobility, whereas they were excluded from various discourses when they used their home languages. Their home languages legitimised and defined their identities, but appeared to be negated in an educational and economic environment. Since the necessity for pupils to become fluent in English conflicted with the pupils’ difficulties in understanding content knowledge expressed in English, the teachers faced a choice between teaching in English (for access to social goods) or their home language (for epistemological access), or both. The use of poetry evoked feelings and emotions that may not have been as obvious, or as evocative, if other data-gathering methods had been used. It appears that the self-reflection embodied in the poetry gave the teachers a sense of empowerment, self-realisation and solidarity. Certain parts of this chapter have been reported elsewhere (Webb 2012).

Teacher Professional Development Programmes in MST for Developing Contexts.

ABSTRACT Since 1994, the democratic South African government has introduced change in all spheres of South African life in a bid to address some challenges such as the redundant, racialised curriculum, the poor results achieved by learners in Grade 12, and the fact that few black matriculants were entering science based careers. A key feature of these poor results was the large group of teachers who were inadequately ‘trained’ during the apartheid era: trained, that is, to teach for subservience and not for critical thinking. Current actions to address this crisis are being undertaken in a collaborative relationship between the Department of Education and Higher Education Institutions. Current initiatives in the professional development of Mathematics, Science and Technology teachers at a South African university are explored. The purpose of this article is to explore the challenges of designing an MST professional development programme in a developing context. The discussion is elaborated with reference to MST programmes run by one particular university. The rationale, foundational principles, model of delivery, programme structure and assessment for the specialisations within the teacher professional development programmes at the university are described. The discussion foregrounds the role of teachers as professionals, the role of context and of content knowledge, as well as the role of pedagogic content knowledge in the professional development of teachers.

Tracing the impact: A case of a professional development programme in Mathematical Literacy

Abstract The introduction of the subject Mathematical Literacy (ML) as part of the education reform process, led to the development of many large scale in-service programmes designed to train practising teachers to teach the new subject. The purpose of the study is to examine the challenges associated with providing in-service training for teachers of ML, by focusing on one district. We present a case study of one programme that was offered by two different universities in three large-scale funded cohorts in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Data for the study was generated by student records, questionnaires and follow up surveys with each school in the district. By considering the success rate as the number of actual qualified teachers in relation to the number that was needed, we quantified the rate at 13%. Some of the factors which were responsible for this low rate are related to the processes of recruitment and selection of the appropriate teachers for the programme; the low pass rate as well as the deployment and management of the graduates at the end of the programme. It is recommended that future large scale teacher training initiatives be jointly managed by the universities and the education authorities, to ensure higher rates of success.

Addressing Multi-language Diversity in Mathematics Teacher Education Programs

In this chapter, mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) from two different environments, namely South Africa (RSA) and the United States (US), join together to share our insights on the role that MTEs might play in the preparation mathematics teachers need in order to address language diversity in their mathematics classrooms. Although from two different contexts, we believe there are more similarities than differences in the issues and challenges MTEs face who must prepare and support teachers. Hence, we begin by raising awareness of some issues involved in helping students learn to read, write, speak, and listen to mathematics—a foreign language for most students, regardless of their English language proficiency. We then discuss issues related to orchestrating classroom discourse, with special attention to multilingual mathematics classrooms. We end by sharing strategies MTEs might use in preparing teachers to teach students from linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Enabling Teacher Learning in Rural Districts:: A Focus on Classroom Support

Abstract This study is focused on a professional development program for rural mathematics and science teachers, which included a classroom support component. The purpose was to explore the teachers’ and mentors’ perceptions of the nature of the learning they experienced. The participants in the study were eight teachers and eight mentors. Data was generated from questionnaires, interviews and written reflections. The findings reveal that the intervention resulted in learning gains for both teachers and mentors. The teachers were pleased with the level of support and encouragement they received, which improved their confidence, and teaching skills. The mentors too extended their own content understanding while they learnt more about the realities of the teachers. However, the mentors were external to the teachers’ situations, which limited future support. It is recommended that the education department should explore possible ways to sustain such classroom support because of the value it offers to teachers.

Multilingual teachers’ voices: Perceptions about the impact of language

Abstract Many teachers in South Africa teach mainly in English, which is not their home language. In order to elicit their inner voices about language issues, 176 senior phase teachers in rural, peri-urban and urban regions of the Eastern Cape were encouraged to write poetry about their perceptions of the impact of language in their lives. The most prevalent conflict they expressed was the dominance of English juxtaposed against the subordination of their home languages, either isiXhosa or Afrikaans. They felt that English gave them access to education and upward employment mobility, whereas they were excluded from various discourses when they used their home languages. The use of poetry to understand how teachers make meaning of the potential conflicts caused by teaching in English revealed feelings and emotions that may not have been as obvious, or as evocative, if other data-gathering methods had been used. Further research is suggested strategies that could use both English and the pupils’ home langua...