Trialogue

Illovo, Melville, Johannesburg

Tertiary Education – Maths & Numeracy Chairs Project

Co-authors: Mamokgethi Setati and Mokibelo Ntshabeleng

Presenter: Mokibelo Ntshabeleng

23 May 2012

Presentation outline

What is the problem?

Outcomes of the initiative

The structure of the initiative

Benefits and challenges of the initiative

Collaboration and on-going learning on the Maths Chairs

Project

What is the problem?

The crisis in mathematics education in South Africa

characterised by:

Poor numeracy & maths results

Limited capacity of maths teachers

Thus, fewer learners are taking maths careers at the IHL

Universities struggling with consequences of schooling failure

Lack of productive collaboration with universities in finding

solutions to the crisis

Envisaged outcomes

Well researched, practical and sustainable solutions to the maths

crisis

Unintended outcomes

Enhanced research outputs and focus at IHL

Strengthened and increased mathematics education capacity in IHL

Increase in the number of new researchers

Creation of research career pathways for young mid-career

researchers/academics

How the initiative is structured? Collaboration between private sector, government (DST and DBE), NRF and

universities.

Institution of mathematics education and numeracy chairs at universities. Each chair

is contracted for five years and has to work with at least 10 schools to do the

following:

Develop and implement programmes for the professional development (skills and

knowledge) of mathematics teachers in the school;

Initiate, lead and co-ordinate programmes of research to improve the quality of

mathematics teaching and learning, and learner performance

Provide leadership through academic citizenship and public engagement in

national and regional fora in the field of mathematics education.

Benefits

Focus on possible solutions rather than the crisis

Moving focus from ‘what is’ to ‘what ought to be’

Changing the conversation/discourse about mathematics

education in SA

Challenges

Private sector needs quick results, however,

researching possible solutions to the crisis takes time.

Measurement of success: intangible vs. tangible

results

Are matric results a good success indicator?

Ethical considerations and what it means when the

funder brings in an evaluator

Collaboration

Public-private partnership between the FirstRand

Foundation, the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund and

the Department of Science and Technology

Its strength lies in a strong partnership between the

provincial and district departments of education,

hosting universities and schools

Ongoing learning

Central to this project is a longitudinal evaluation that

has been commissioned by the co-funders

Annual Community of Practice meeting – a platform to

share learnings

Further learnings from both the evaluation and

research are incorporated to refine the projects’ plans

and funding requirements

Q&A

Discussions