Exploring South African in-service teachers’ baseline knowledge of mathematics : a case of further education and training phase

Abstract: The advent of the fourth industrial revolution provides opportunities for teachers as key agents of educational change to fully embrace digital transformation in its broadest sense with a view to foster pedagogic innovation. In view of this key strategic imperative, this study explored South African in-service teachers’ baseline knowledge of mathematics in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase. In terms of the structure of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), the FET Phase is comprised of Grades 10, 11 and 12. A mathematics professional development intervention involving 30 teachers was implemented during which a diagnostic assessment test was administered as a pre-test and post-test to evaluate teachers’ baseline knowledge of FET mathematics. The results of the diagnostic assessment test revealed pervasive knowledge gaps associated with various topics in FET mathematics. In addition, there was no meaningful correlation between teacher professional experience and knowledge of FET mathematics. While the pre-test results painted a gloomy picture about teachers’ baseline knowledge of FET mathematics, the post-test results revealed a marginal improvement with the overall performance of the teachers remaining below 65%. The inadequate learner performance in mathematics in South Africa can partly be attributed to pervasive knowledge gaps exhibited by teachers in various topics. There is a critical need for sustainable teacher professional development interventions to strengthen teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics as a key knowledge domain. Implications for sustainable teacher professional development and meaningful curriculum reform are discussed