Exploring Heads of Departments' Management of the Mathematics Curriculum During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 232-245
Author(s):  
Mapula M. Ngoepe
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
South African ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Curriculum Management ◽  
Research Paradigm ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Learner Achievement

Heads of departments (HoDs) play a central role in managing teaching and learning in the schools. Moreover, good leadership contributes to school improvement and to learner achievement, especially in mathematics. South African mathematics achievement levels are still regarded as the lowest. The purpose of the chapter is to explore HoDs' management of the mathematics curriculum and challenges encountered during COVID-19. This investigation was situated within the qualitative research paradigm. A comprehensive literature review method was incorporated as an approach to collect, analyse, and interpret data. Themes of focus included managing the mathematics curriculum, resources availability, intervention strategies for teaching and learning during COVID-19, curriculum completion management, record keeping, teacher development, and learner support, among others. The present study seeks to problematise the notion that HoDs do not seem to have a good understanding of curriculum management with particular focus on mathematics in the schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Exploring Grade R teachers’ mathematics curriculum practices and strategies for improvement: Implications for physics teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-250
Author(s):  
Seipati L. Baloyi-Mothibeli ◽  
Christian Sunday Ugwuanyi ◽  
Chinedu I. O. Okeke
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Development ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Physics Teaching ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
Mathematics Class ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design ◽  
Curriculum Practices

This study sought strategies to improve teachers’ professional curriculum practices in a Grade R mathematics class. A phenomenological research design was employed to generate data for the study using a sample of fifteen participants. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the data for the study. In this regard, the interview guide was properly validated, and trial tested. Data collected for this study were analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings of the study showed that the strategies for improving teachers’ professional curriculum practice in a Grade R mathematics class include employing adequately qualified Grade R teachers; aking available teaching and learning resources;ncouraging sufficient parental involvement; encouraging support by authorities; and, using adequate language for teaching and learning. It was therefore concluded that for Grade R teachers to engage learners in Professional Curriculum Practices (PCP), they need to have access to teacher development programmes. This finding implicates physics teaching in the sense that proficiency in mathematics teaching is imperative for physics teaching. Thus, a practical approach to mathematics teaching can as well be deployed in the teaching of physics concepts due to the abstract nature of the subjects (Mathematics and Physics). In order words these identified strategies for mathematics teaching can be used for physics teaching at a higher education level. Thus, it was recommended that the integrated teacher development programme should be implemented to enable teachers to be fully engaged in Grade R mathematics classes.   Keywords: Improvement, Strategies, Teachers’ Professional Curriculum Practice, Grade R Mathematics.

scholarly journals Stakeholders’ Support for Large Scale Assessment in Schools: A Case of Annual National Assessment (ANA) in South African Schools

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-113
Author(s):  
Oluwatoyin Ayodele Ajani ◽  
Nonhlanhla Doris F. Khumalo ◽  
Mncedisi C. Maphalala ◽  
Samantha Govender
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
Standardised Testing

Assessment is a crucial aspect of teaching and learning; it includes various means of assessing what learners could reproduce as product of learning. Annual National Assessment (ANA) is a large scale assessment with the sole aim of measuring learners’ achievement, growth and progress. Since the introduction and implementation of ANA in 2010, the analysis of the results from 2011 to 2014 has shown very little improvement in learner performance. This qualitative study sought to ascertain how stakeholders supported standardised testing to overcome its limitations, and can be used to improve teaching and learning in South African schools. The theoretical framework that underpins this study is the Hard Accountability Model. Themes were generated from the collected data from ten English teachers, ten Mathematics and ten Heads of Departments from ten grade six primary schools in King Cethswayo district, Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa. Findings revealed that stakeholders did not support adequately ANA to fulfil its purpose in schools. The study also indicated inadequate teacher development programmes to regularly capacitate teachers on how to improve ANA results. The study therefore recommended that the Department of Basic Education should ensure that teacher developmental programmes are conducted while curriculum advisors and School Management Teams should strengthen their supervision and monitoring in schools.

scholarly journals Mathematics, curriculum and assessment: The role of taxonomies in the quest for coherence

Pythagoras ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Long ◽  
Tim Dunne ◽  
Hendrik De Kock
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Cognitive Component ◽  
Routine Procedures ◽  
The Relationship

A challenge encountered when monitoring mathematics teaching and learning at high school is that taxonomies such as Bloom’s, and variations of this work, are not entirely adequate for providing meaningful feedback to teachers beyond very general cognitive categories that are difficult to interpret. Challenges of this nature are also encountered in the setting of examinations, where the requirement is to cover a range of skills and cognitive domains. The contestation as to the cognitive level is inevitable as it is necessary to analyse the relationship between the problem and the learners’ background experience. The challenge in the project described in this article was to find descriptive terms that would be meaningful to teachers. The first attempt at providing explicit feedback was to apply the assessment frameworks that include a content component and a cognitive component, namely knowledge, routine procedures, complex procedures and problem solving, currently used in the South African curriculum documents. The second attempt investigated various taxonomies, including those used in international assessments and in mathematics education research, for constructs that teachers of mathematics might find meaningful. The final outcome of this investigation was to apply the dimensions required to understand a mathematical concept proposed by Usiskin (2012): the skills-algorithm, property-proof, use-application and representation-metaphor dimension. A feature of these dimensions is that they are not hierarchical; rather, within each of the dimensions, the mathematical task may demand recall but may also demand the highest level of creativity. For our purpose, we developed a two-way matrix using Usiskin’s dimensions on one axis and a variation of Bloom’s revised taxonomy on the second axis. Our findings are that this two-way matrix provides an alternative to current taxonomies, is more directly applicable to mathematics and provides the necessary coherence required when reporting test results to classroom teachers. In conclusion we discuss the limitations associated with taxonomies for mathematics.

scholarly journals Instructional Leadership: Its Role in Sustaining School Improvement in South African Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-133
Author(s):  
George. N. Shava ◽  
Jan Heystek ◽  
Thompson Chasara
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
North West

Recent studies conducted around the world have revealed a clear link between the instructional position of principal leadership and school improvement. Instructional leadership, which aims to foster a teaching and learning community, is seen as a key component of successful teaching and long-term school improvement. The rise in site-specific management roles, which are based on instructional leadership experiences, is one of the initiatives launched by the South African government to reform education. In South Africa, school principals are responsible for academic development. This qualitative research aimed to learn more about the role of principals in sustaining school improvement in the North West Province of South Africa. Premised in the qualitative research approach, a purposive sampling technique was used to select six schools that had sustained school improvement for some years. Findings from the study revealed that principals play a crucial role in sustaining school improvement. The study findings reinforce recent literature that identifies instructional leadership as a cornerstone for school improvement.

scholarly journals The use of workbooks in South African grade 3 mathematics classrooms

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Manono Mdluli
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Mathematics Classrooms ◽  
Benchmark Tests ◽  
Grade 3

The poor performance of South African learners on national and international benchmark tests in mathematics and literacy has prompted the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) to devise intervention strategies, one of which is the provision of workbooks for learners. This paper is based on a case study of six Grade 3 teachers’ use of DBE workbooks. Data from classroom observations and interviews are reported and analyzed in relation to literature on mathematical and pedagogical resources. The key finding is that teachers use the workbooks in disparate ways as a resource and that the majority of the teachers in the case study use the workbooks in ways that do not resonate with the DBE’s intentions. We argue that the provision of resources alone may not lead to improved teaching and learning in primary school mathematics classrooms and that pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes need to include a focus on how resources such as workbooks can be utilized optimally

scholarly journals School improvement through government agencies: Loose or tight coupling?

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-47
Author(s):  
Tony Bush
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
South African ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Loose Coupling ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Leadership Management ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
Two Bodies

In seeking to improve student outcomes, governments may choose to exercise direct control over schools, as in many centralised systems, or to provide frameworks for intermediate bodies to engage in improvement activities. One such body is the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), now the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) in England. The Department of Education of the South African province of Gauteng (GDE) has also chosen to implement its school improvement programmes partly through two specialist units, the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, which focuses on maths, science and technology (MST), and the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance (MGSLG), which specialises in school leadership, management, governance and teacher development. The purpose of this article is to report on an evaluation of the work of these two bodies, commissioned by the GDE as part of its 20th anniversary commemorations, through an analysis of relevant documents and interviews with 11 key actors in the operation of these specialist bodies. The article adopts loose coupling as its theoretical framework.

scholarly journals A learning pathway for whole numbers that informs mathematics teaching in the early years

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cally Kuhne
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The South ◽  
Improvement Project ◽  
Whole Number

This paper reports on the development of a Learning Pathway for Number (LPN) with the aim of facilitating the teaching and learning of whole number in the early primary grades (Grades R – 4) within the South African educational context. The development of the LPN was based on the Dutch Learning/Teaching Trajectory for Whole Number (Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, 2001). This paper describes a case study that presents the development of the LPN with three teacher groups (teachers from a school improvement project, teachers from high-performing schools and pre-service student teachers). The LPN is a conceptual framework based on five learning/teaching principles, namely the context, level, activity, interaction and the guidance principles. The benefit of this pedagogic tool adapted and refined for the South African context is that it provides a longitudinal view, highlighting milestones in the learning of number with the aim of deepening learners’ conceptual understanding of number over time. This case study reveals the importance of a devise that enables teachers to reflect on their mathematics content and pedagogy and bridges the theory-practice divide. It also highlights the critical issue of language and the use of appropriate terminology and activities in the classroom.

A CUSTOMISED FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE PODCAST INTEGRATION IN A SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-32
Author(s):  
Shane Pachagadu ◽  
Liezel Nel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
Effective Integration

Numerous studies have explored the potential of podcast integration in teaching and learning environments. This paper first presents and organises perspectives from literature in a conceptual framework for the effective integration of podcasting in higher education. An empirical study is then discussed in which the guidelines presented in the framework were evaluated for applicability in a selected course at a South African University of Technology. Since the results of the study revealed a number of aspects not accounted for in the conceptual framework, the framework was customised to make it more applicable for the particular higher education environment. The customised framework identifies four principles and a series of related guidelines for the effective integration of podcasts in a South African higher education teaching and learning environment. This framework can become a valuable resource for effective podcast integration in similar environments.

Administrasi Kurikulum

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadia Kalma Lailani
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Management ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Curriculum Management ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Unit Level ◽  
Entire Process ◽  
School Committees ◽  
Quality School

abstrak— The purpose of making this article is to help prepare quality school management, especially with regard to curriculum management which will be implemented at the level of the education unit at the school, both done by teachers, school committees, principals, and parties related to curriculum development at the unit level of education. Hopefully this article can provide information in order to create quality school management which of course must be based on quality curriculum management as well. curriculum administration is the entire process of activities planned deliberately to the situation of teaching and learning effectively and efficiently in order to help the achievement of educational goals that have been set.

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