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Teacher quality in primary schools in South Africa is a serious concern, and how best to prepare teachers in initial teacher education—with regard to mathematics—remains an open and vexing question. There is a confluence of challenges facing the mathematics education community in South Africa: poor conceptual understanding of mathematics amongst teachers; poor attainment in Primary Teacher Education mathematics tests at both first and fourth year levels; and few initial teacher education programmes having evidence of improving knowledge for teaching mathematics. In addition, few lecturers in initial teacher education make explicit the theoretical tenets informing their course design for mathematics. In response to the latter challenge, this paper makes explicit the design choices made in the Emergent Number Sense first year mathematics module in Bachelor of Education degrees, used across six universities in South Africa. It then theorises the choice to commence the B.Ed mathematics programmes with two pathways into number knowledge: (1) a counting pathway, making use of discrete objects or events which can be quantified by counting in ones; and (2) a measurement pathway, making use of continuous extents which can be quantified by introducing a unit of measurement. Each has a distinct metaphor, strategy for the reification of the 10 and supporting representation. This offers the lecturers using the course in their own design trials, and initial teacher educators beyond the Maths4Primary Teachers collective, a conceptual framework for this design choice, which can now be critiqued and further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Grade R teacher expressions of themselves as teachers of numeracy, and as teachers working in the transition phase of schooling, after their participation in a research-informed numeracy-focused professional development (PD) intervention. The Early Number Fun (ENF) programme had 33 teachers from 17 Eastern Cape schools participating monthly over 18 months. Inclusion of Grade R to schooling is relatively new following policy changes in Early Childhood Development. In-service support tends to be subsumed within the Foundation Phase without attention to the specialised nature of Grade R that emphasises learning through play. ENF focused on the development of specialised teacher knowledge to support the development of early number sense through play, particularly with conceptual manipulatives. Data sources include three pre-, during, and post-PD questionnaires. Findings reveal that participation in ENF, and access to multiple research informed numeracy resources, supported teachers in their relationship with numeracy and the teaching thereof. Questionnaire responses indicate greater confidence in themselves as knowledgeable teachers of numeracy and that belonging to the ENF community supported navigation of positive professional identities within the mixed messages of policy. The findings contribute to the community-supported field of Grade R PD research and early numeracy teaching and learning. In concluding we discuss implications of this research for Grade R PD and for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, illustrative excerpts from mathematics lessons are analysed to examine mathematical and multilingual moves between representations within Sepedi and English medium classrooms. Duval's theory of representational registers and the literature on multilingual practices help foreground similarities within and differences between the instructional practices of four teachers—two teaching in the medium of Sepedi and two in English—as they move between mathematical and multilingual representations in the teaching of numbers. The findings show patterned differences on the basis of the medium of instruction, with the Sepedi medium instruction indicating, primarily, 'restatement' moves between the oral and the symbolic modes of representation, whilst the English medium instruction incorporated a higher incidence of mathematical moves between oral, concrete, iconic and symbolic number-based modes of representation. The evidence of broader use of mathematical representational moves as observed in the English medium lessons offers insights into how and, perhaps, why learners' knowledge development and understanding of early number in English medium classrooms may emerge in ways that are different from the knowledge developed in the Sepedi medium classes. These patterned differences are important to understand in a South African context where language of instruction continues to be associated with differences in mathematical outcomes in ways that, as previously documented, relate to socio-economic disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a study that explored the link between teachers' views on the challenges to inquiry-based science teaching (IBST) practice in the chemistry classroom and their need for professional development. The study used a multiple case study design and collected data using interviews. Participants were purposively selected. In all, eight chemistry teachers in six schools participated in the study. Five out of six cases we studied reported that the challenges the schools faced impeded the implementation of IBST. These challenges included lack of awareness of the IBST strategy, limited laboratory facilities and equipment, insufficient textbooks and overcrowded classes. In all, the views of teachers from the six cases suggested that, before embarking on the implementation of inquiry-based science teaching, it is vital to first consider a given school's teaching and learning resources, teacher capacity and motivation as essential factors that support the effective implementation of such innovation. Teachers' voices in all six cases also suggested that IBST implementation requires teacher development that focuses on their actual teaching needs and contextual challenges to optimise innovation outcomes. Three relationships between school implementation context and preferred professional development initiatives emerged. Teachers in private schools with or without resources and independent of class sizes require government-initiated and expert-led provision. Teachers at government schools with limited resources and large classes suggest expert-led workshops with a focus on sharing experiences during the workshops and on return to school. Teachers at government schools with previous access to centralised professional development and sufficient school resources (including improvised materials) indicate the need for in-school support from a professional learning community to strengthen the implementation of IBST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an investigation into management in Mathematics classrooms. Classroom management is contextualised in terms of the managerial actions required to manage classrooms effectively and the extent to which effective classroom management responds to contextual challenges. Relevant literature is reviewed, and theoretical perspectives with investigative value for classroom management are examined. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews with four Mathematics department heads and with five teachers per school, for the four focus group interviews. The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and the data analysed using a process of abductive data analysis as suggested by McMillan and Schumacher (2010; Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry, 4th ed., Pearson Education). The participants in this study supported the use of different overlapping management styles. Teachers apply these styles by introducing useful and suitable management actions in their classroom practice. It was found that organising group work and motivating learners are actions that encompass the majority of functions related to the management of teaching and learning in Mathematics classrooms. Contextual influences like teachers' professional competencies, curriculum implementation, the maintenance of facilities and the availability of resources and learning materials were highlighted as factors that both support and constrain the effectiveness of classroom management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from the literature supports the idea that a hierarchical and coherently organised curriculum fosters meaningful learning. We argue that the learning can only be realised if teaching complements the curricular coherence by allowing learners to make links during the teaching and learning process. The study reported in this paper explores the extent to which selected teachers' pedagogical practices support this coherence in their teaching of the electrolytic cell. Two teachers were observed teaching Reactions in Aqueous Solutions at senior secondary level. The classroom discussions were transcribed and analysed using the Pedagogical Link-Making tool by Scott, Aguair and Mortimer. The tool has three aspects; pedagogical link-making for continuity, pedagogical link-making for knowledge building; and pedagogical link-making for emotional engagement. In this case pedagogical link-making to promote continuity was used to analyse the data to establish coherence and progression in concept coverage. According to Scott and colleagues, an important part of teaching science is to support learners in making their own links between concepts within the lesson, across lessons and across grades. This is link-making for continuity. The teachers were interviewed after teaching in order to clarify some of the pedagogical practices observed during the lesson. There was little evidence of teachers helping learners to make the connections between concepts and thus make sense of the content themselves. Furthermore, even in classrooms with learner involvement, there was hardly any link-making by learners. We discuss the implications of these findings for teaching and learning as well as for teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chain of progression from teacher education to qualification to classroom instruction and student engagement, and then to learning and achievement, is not as straightforward as often presented. Societal, political and economic pressures create either a positive climate or a stressful one for both teachers and students. Nevertheless it is safe to say that in a subject like mathematics, the importance of subject matter knowledge cannot be underestimated. Research in this area supports the presumption that formal qualifications in the subject, in this case mathematics, are necessary, as this focused engagement with mathematics provides the foundation for mathematics teaching and learning. The allocation of fully qualified teachers to schools has in the past been uneven, with the supposition that students at higher socio-economic levels are being taught by better qualified teachers. In South Africa the improvement of teacher qualifications has been identified as a core area of action with the relevant policy on teacher education renewed in 2007 and again in 2014. The focus of this paper is to understand the change in patterns of teacher qualifications, and the interrelationship with school contextual variables. The analysis is based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data from 2003, 2011 and 2015, where teachers from the TIMSS sample provided contextual information. Descriptive statistics were calculated using the IEA IDB Analyzer. The results show that South Africa has made substantial progress in uplifting teachers' formal qualification levels and in reducing structural inequality within its education system. Out-of-field teaching of mathematics is still shown to be a common phenomenon and is unevenly distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of the township school provides several hurdles for learners engaging in school science, including low achievement and self-confidence. The use of multiple representations has been advocated for the development of conceptual understanding in physics. The study reported in this paper explores the relationship between learner academic engagement and the nature of the depictive representation of a simple circuit, and learners' reasons for their preference for any of these representations for learning among 78 Grade 8 learners from two township schools. Academic engagement was measured through a social dimension (learners' observed behaviour whilst on-task) and a cognitive dimension (learners' written responses to the task). Interview and questionnaire data addressed learner preferences. The findings show that the schematic circuit diagram generated no engagement with the task, as such tasks were associated with textbooks that learners did not understand and examinations that they perceived they would fail. In contrast, the naive photographic representation encouraged almost all participants to engage because of the familiarity with and concrete nature of the circuit components. It is recommended that the pedagogical affordances of different representations are considered and therefore teachers should consciously plan to support learner experiences with naive representations before introducing abstract, disciplinary-accepted representations such as the circuit diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) was introduced in South Africa in 2012 to, among others, drive a learner-centred and constructivist approach to practical work in the high school subject Physical Sciences. This study investigates teachers' concerns with the implementation of practical work in Physical Sciences. A survey of 81 high school physical science teachers' concerns was conducted in a school district in South Africa. Participants were selected from 52 schools by means of convenience sampling. The seven stage concerns-based adoption model was used to identify teachers' stages of concern on the practical component of CAPS. The findings indicate that 69% of the participants (n = 47) had management concerns of high significance (p = 0.51), while the collaboration and consequence concerns were only slightly significant (p = 0.96). With regards to CAPS experience, respondents who had been implementing CAPS for less than three years had more personal concerns compared with those who had been executing it for three to four years. Equally, respondents with less experience with CAPS had marginally more management concerns compared with respondents with more experience. These trends were also observed with the collaboration and refocusing concerns suggesting that teachers with less CAPS experience worry more about their ability to manage practical work and to make laboratory activities workable in their contexts. The paper concludes with a discussion on the variety of concerns and how these might be addressed through targeted teacher professional development support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]