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From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

In this paper, we report on outcomes from the Structuring Number Starters intervention project focused on early grades’ number learning in South Africa. Using tests drawn from the Maths Recovery programme, a cross-attainment sample of Grade 2 students in six schools took part in oral interview assessments early in 2011, 2014 and 2018, with professional development activities for their teachers occurring across this period. Student outcomes point to increasing proportions, over time, of students able to use more sophisticated counting strategies, and to work with number structure for more efficient calculation.

From a sociocultural perspective that a teacher’s use of mediational means is central to student learning, this paper presents an analysis of six teachers and their mediating, across a two-three year time gap. Drawing on the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework – developed to examine the type and quality of mediational means – we propose two composite assessments of quality of mediation – extent and depth – that indicate the extent to which teaching addresses mathematical structure and generality. The findings reveal a range of differences in these two assessments for each of the six teachers, but that all six teachers were more coherent in their use of mediational means in the later lesson than in the earlier one. These findings have implications for other schooling systems and researchers seeking to improve the quality of mathematics instruction.

Responding constructively ‘in-the moment’ to student offers is described as a critical, and yet difficult, aspect of skilful and responsive teaching. South African evidence points to limited evaluation of student offers in schools serving poor communities. In this paper, we present and discuss an ‘elaboration’ framework emerging from a grounded analysis of data drawn from video recordings of 18 mathematics lessons prepared and conducted by four in-service primary school teachers in South Africa. This analysis led to a categorization of the situations in which teacher responses to student offers occurred, and the nature and range of these responses. Three response situations are identified within the framework: breakdown, sophistication, and individuation/collectivization, with a range of response (and non-response) categories in each situation. Literature on responsive feedback is drawn in to explore hierarchies and relationships between the emergent categories within situations of elaboration. The elaboration framework provides a tool for lesson observation, and a model for thinking about developments in responsive teaching.