**2. The exploration of mathematics education, democracy and development**

The connection in the triad of mathematics education, democracy and development brings critical engagements with the country's developmental features like poverty and inequality. One of the reasons why mathematics was made compulsory was in the fact that in this day and era, it is used by people, institutions and agencies through all types of applications that come to produce and result in a formatting of society. It therefore requires a more sophisticated mathematically literate person to question the applications within a democracy since an increasing amount of some mathematics is found in all areas of life today. The recently introduced new Mathematics and Mathematics Literacy curricula for grades 10–12 in South Africa

could be a redress to ensure that all South Africans are mathematics literate and numerate. Also the evidence in this line of argument is that access to and competence in mathematics serve very different purposes. The implications of both the presence and absence of mathematics education has real consequences since it is used in a multitude of ways in society like predicting, controlling, interpreting, describing and explaining within a particular cultural, economic and socio-political context. Furthermore, mathematics is expected to integrate a critical, democratic and mathematical competence such that citizenry participates meaningfully in the growing economy. Consequently, South African citizens would then be able to grasp the mathematical basis implicit in the decisions taken for or against them [9].

In essence, the developmental challenge for mathematics education is not confined to particular parts of the world, South Africa is included. Venkat et al. [9] proposed a significant new role in contributing to the acceleration of eradicating poverty, promoting gender equality and universal primary education. The author further suggests that mathematicians and mathematics educators need to work together, from different levels of the education system, in different aspects of research and practice, from different perspectives, and from different parts of the world. This according to [9] would address poverty, injustices, inequity, illiteracy and access to education. In addition, Venkat et al. [9] suggest that in order to create employment and to fight poverty, mathematics education can be used to empower people with knowledge and skills that are necessary to reach the targeted economic growth rates. The author further argues mathematics is required to analyze most of the skills areas of the economic sectors that are being targeted to ensure growth is achieved in the country. A shortage of skilled people who can make things with their hands, those skilled in the technique of an art or craft, engineers, architects, doctors, together with many of those who are involved in various kinds of applications of mathematics in South Africa, has been registered in the country. Therefore, for economic growth, the strengthening of mathematics teaching in schools is important in order to reach development goals and the needs of the impoverished and marginalized communities. The improvement of the basic conditions of peoples' lives, including schooling and the quality of all aspects of mathematics education is crucial to sustaining democracy in South Africa.

In addition to the mathematical knowledge and skills needed in the twenty-first century, mathematics education and performance in the subject determines access to jobs and further or higher education studies in a range of areas, from the natural and physical sciences to economics and technology. Thus, mathematics is on the one hand regarded as a gateway subject, a requirement for admission to learning a large number of these high-status, high-paying professions. On the other hand, it also functions as a gatekeeper, a sorting mechanism used to keep some people who fail to learn and perform at the requisite levels or are failed by the education system [9]. In this way, the teaching and learning of mathematics stratify the society. It is in this notion that mathematics education becomes responsible for the country's economic growth.

### **3. The distribution and educational possibilities of mathematics education**

The distribution of mathematics education is made visible and public through international studies of student mathematics performance and national tests and assessments. South Africa's poor performance in Mathematics and Science education quality was highlighted in the first three TIMMS reports—1995, 1999 and 2002. Feza [7] asserts that South Korea and Singapore which are two of the top performing countries in TIMSS had gone through curriculum changes reforms

**133**

*Mathematics Education System in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85325*

driven by political influences and have managed to have their students as the lead performers in TIMSS. However, South Africa's repeated ranking at the very bottom of TIMMS and equally poor outcomes in the annual high-stakes national grade 12 matric examination results, follow with endless speculation about the reasons and causes of South Africa's continued poor mathematics performance. Feza [7] further suggests some factors behind the poor mathematics performance in South Africa as those that connect with curriculum implementation and teacher readiness. The mathematics teachers' classroom practices remain unchanged although the current implemented curriculum prescribes precise content that must be taught to learners at various levels. This can be associated with the observations of the Education minister, Motshekga [10], who noted that "South Africa is significantly under performing in education in general, particularly mathematics teaching and learning. Mathematics teaching is often poor quality, with teachers not able to answer questions in the curriculum they are teaching, one indicator of the challenge. Often national testing is misleading as it does not show the major gap at lower grade levels." In an endeavor to address this saga, the government opted to define the set of values for the teaching and learning of Mathematics in the South African context. It was also acknowledged that in education, the country was doing well in terms of the fact that all learners had access to some mathematics studying, equity, but quality was lacking. Mostly, the underperformance was visible in the public sector schools that form about 80% of schooling in the country. OECD [11] associated the South Africa's mathematics educational outcomes with the aggravation of the excess supply of unskilled labor and worsening income inequality in the country. This crisis has recently worsened as the department of education has decided to progress learners who did not meet the minimum mathematics requirements for progression to the next grade in the senior phase, grades 7–9. I argue in this chapter that the progression of learners who fail mathematics compromises the country's future quality of human capital and economic growth. I further suggest that this can be redressed by subjecting underqualified mathematics teachers, those who had done standard grade mathematics to an intense compulsory in-service mathematics teacher training process. In this way mathematics teachers would be equipped with both pedagogical knowledge and mathematics content for teaching the subject. In the past decade, Venkat et al. [9] asserted that the number of students seeking to become senior secondary teachers of mathematics in schools has not kept pace with demand. Teaching is unable to compete with the status, remuneration and prestige of other expanding career options in science and technology, given the small pool of successful candidates in matric mathematics. This is associated with the fact that in South Africa, through the deliberate underdevelopment of apartheid, the mathematics education system has inherited a nature of teachers with diplomas as opposed to degrees, who were underprepared in handling the content of the changed curriculum. This legacy remains intact and must be addressed for any reversal of the past and for substantial improvements in providing learners with adequate and appropriately qualified mathematics teachers. Those teachers will then acquire the kinds the mathematical knowledge and skills promised in the current CAPS curriculum. Parker [12] notes that approximately 20% of grade 10–12 mathematics teachers are professionally unqualified and of those that are qualified, still only 21% have some university level courses. In addition, there is also evidence to the fact that qualified mathematics teachers in the system are either not teaching mathematics or not teaching it at the level at which they are qualified [12, 13]. Moloi [6], for example, argues that quality mathematics teaching in South Africa will continue to be a phantom unless (i) there is a quality teacher education that refreshes teachers' competencies; (ii) teachers make efforts to understand how their learners think and learn, and recognize the learning experiences of their learners; and (iii) teachers are given the necessary support by the

#### *Mathematics Education System in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85325*

*Education Systems Around the World*

could be a redress to ensure that all South Africans are mathematics literate and numerate. Also the evidence in this line of argument is that access to and competence in mathematics serve very different purposes. The implications of both the presence and absence of mathematics education has real consequences since it is used in a multitude of ways in society like predicting, controlling, interpreting, describing and explaining within a particular cultural, economic and socio-political context. Furthermore, mathematics is expected to integrate a critical, democratic and mathematical competence such that citizenry participates meaningfully in the growing economy. Consequently, South African citizens would then be able to grasp

the mathematical basis implicit in the decisions taken for or against them [9]. In essence, the developmental challenge for mathematics education is not confined to particular parts of the world, South Africa is included. Venkat et al. [9] proposed a significant new role in contributing to the acceleration of eradicating poverty, promoting gender equality and universal primary education. The author further suggests that mathematicians and mathematics educators need to work together, from different levels of the education system, in different aspects of research and practice, from different perspectives, and from different parts of the world. This according to [9] would address poverty, injustices, inequity, illiteracy and access to education. In addition, Venkat et al. [9] suggest that in order to create employment and to fight poverty, mathematics education can be used to empower people with knowledge and skills that are necessary to reach the targeted economic growth rates. The author further argues mathematics is required to analyze most of the skills areas of the economic sectors that are being targeted to ensure growth is achieved in the country. A shortage of skilled people who can make things with their hands, those skilled in the technique of an art or craft, engineers, architects, doctors, together with many of those who are involved in various kinds of applications of mathematics in South Africa, has been registered in the country. Therefore, for economic growth, the strengthening of mathematics teaching in schools is important in order to reach development goals and the needs of the impoverished and marginalized communities. The improvement of the basic conditions of peoples' lives, including schooling and the quality of all aspects of mathematics

education is crucial to sustaining democracy in South Africa.

In addition to the mathematical knowledge and skills needed in the twenty-first century, mathematics education and performance in the subject determines access to jobs and further or higher education studies in a range of areas, from the natural and physical sciences to economics and technology. Thus, mathematics is on the one hand regarded as a gateway subject, a requirement for admission to learning a large number of these high-status, high-paying professions. On the other hand, it also functions as a gatekeeper, a sorting mechanism used to keep some people who fail to learn and perform at the requisite levels or are failed by the education system [9]. In this way, the teaching and learning of mathematics stratify the society. It is in this notion that mathematics education becomes responsible for the country's economic growth.

**3. The distribution and educational possibilities of mathematics** 

The distribution of mathematics education is made visible and public through international studies of student mathematics performance and national tests and assessments. South Africa's poor performance in Mathematics and Science education quality was highlighted in the first three TIMMS reports—1995, 1999 and 2002. Feza [7] asserts that South Korea and Singapore which are two of the top performing countries in TIMSS had gone through curriculum changes reforms

**132**

**education**

driven by political influences and have managed to have their students as the lead performers in TIMSS. However, South Africa's repeated ranking at the very bottom of TIMMS and equally poor outcomes in the annual high-stakes national grade 12 matric examination results, follow with endless speculation about the reasons and causes of South Africa's continued poor mathematics performance. Feza [7] further suggests some factors behind the poor mathematics performance in South Africa as those that connect with curriculum implementation and teacher readiness. The mathematics teachers' classroom practices remain unchanged although the current implemented curriculum prescribes precise content that must be taught to learners at various levels. This can be associated with the observations of the Education minister, Motshekga [10], who noted that "South Africa is significantly under performing in education in general, particularly mathematics teaching and learning. Mathematics teaching is often poor quality, with teachers not able to answer questions in the curriculum they are teaching, one indicator of the challenge. Often national testing is misleading as it does not show the major gap at lower grade levels." In an endeavor to address this saga, the government opted to define the set of values for the teaching and learning of Mathematics in the South African context. It was also acknowledged that in education, the country was doing well in terms of the fact that all learners had access to some mathematics studying, equity, but quality was lacking. Mostly, the underperformance was visible in the public sector schools that form about 80% of schooling in the country. OECD [11] associated the South Africa's mathematics educational outcomes with the aggravation of the excess supply of unskilled labor and worsening income inequality in the country. This crisis has recently worsened as the department of education has decided to progress learners who did not meet the minimum mathematics requirements for progression to the next grade in the senior phase, grades 7–9. I argue in this chapter that the progression of learners who fail mathematics compromises the country's future quality of human capital and economic growth. I further suggest that this can be redressed by subjecting underqualified mathematics teachers, those who had done standard grade mathematics to an intense compulsory in-service mathematics teacher training process. In this way mathematics teachers would be equipped with both pedagogical knowledge and mathematics content for teaching the subject.

In the past decade, Venkat et al. [9] asserted that the number of students seeking to become senior secondary teachers of mathematics in schools has not kept pace with demand. Teaching is unable to compete with the status, remuneration and prestige of other expanding career options in science and technology, given the small pool of successful candidates in matric mathematics. This is associated with the fact that in South Africa, through the deliberate underdevelopment of apartheid, the mathematics education system has inherited a nature of teachers with diplomas as opposed to degrees, who were underprepared in handling the content of the changed curriculum. This legacy remains intact and must be addressed for any reversal of the past and for substantial improvements in providing learners with adequate and appropriately qualified mathematics teachers. Those teachers will then acquire the kinds the mathematical knowledge and skills promised in the current CAPS curriculum. Parker [12] notes that approximately 20% of grade 10–12 mathematics teachers are professionally unqualified and of those that are qualified, still only 21% have some university level courses. In addition, there is also evidence to the fact that qualified mathematics teachers in the system are either not teaching mathematics or not teaching it at the level at which they are qualified [12, 13]. Moloi [6], for example, argues that quality mathematics teaching in South Africa will continue to be a phantom unless (i) there is a quality teacher education that refreshes teachers' competencies; (ii) teachers make efforts to understand how their learners think and learn, and recognize the learning experiences of their learners; and (iii) teachers are given the necessary support by the

authorities. Some of the qualified mathematics teachers either serve in management positions in schools rendering therefore a limited human capital that can assist with effective mathematics teaching. This challenge has exacerbated to a level in which the education minister has lowered the pass requirement for mathematics at grade 12 matric level to 20% across the country, a political decision that hits back to the country's economy as affected students cannot enroll for scarce skills at tertiary institutions although they have passed. In the most impoverished parts of the schooling system, better distribution of the educational opportunities for many more marginalized learners to effectively improve in mathematics performance, requires a targeted, systemic and systematic long-term mathematics teacher continuous professional development, a stable curriculum policy environment, and, a critical level of resourcing and schooling infrastructure for the mathematics education system to function.

### **4. The introduction of mathematical literacy**

The subject mathematical literacy (ML) was introduced at in South African schools in 2006 as a compulsory alternative to mathematics. This was done to ensure that every citizen was allowed some form of mathematical skill which they can use in their personal and work-related life (Subject Guidelines NC (V)) [1]. Although this was a good intention, not all the objectives of the subject were accomplished. First at the time of its introduction, there were no trained qualified teachers to handle the subject. Secondly, it was enrolled at grade 10 level by students who did not perform well in pure mathematics and had a weak pass in their grade 9. Such students also struggled to perform well in languages and other subjects. The objective of ML becoming a high-quality subject, which can stand independently with its own set of objectives, and not to be compared with mathematics, is one of those that were not accomplished. Equally shocking was the announcement that ML had since 2014 also not shown any improvement in students' poor performance up to 2016 [14].

Mathematical literacy (ML) is a context driven subject that is taught and learnt from a contextual framework [4]. According to the subject guidelines for ML, Ref. [1] prescribes that it is a subject that is meant to equip the student to deal effectively with everyday problems. According to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum documents [1], 'mathematical literacy is defined as follows: The competencies developed through Mathematical Literacy allow individuals to make sense of, participate in and contribute by becoming responsible citizens who base their decisions on sound information to the twenty-first century world- a world characterized by numbers, numerically based arguments and data represented and misrepresented in a number of different ways. Such competencies include the ability to reason, make decisions, solve problems, manage resources, interpret information, schedule events and use and apply technology' [1].

The implications of the above statement is that Mathematical Literacy allows citizens to make informed decisions and choices after carefully considering all information in its contexts by comparing, conjecturing, calculating and problem solving through the use of numbers and by using and applying technology to assist them. It further states that citizens will be allowed to utilize resources, human or otherwise, in a very optimal manner based on their calculations made. Although the above was an expected outcome of the implementation of ML, not much research had been done to verify whether this is what is actually happening in real life for those students who have gone the ML program at schools. But recent studies point to the fact that the percentage failure rate is higher in Mathematical literacy than pure mathematics in grade 12 matric level. In addition, a major concern was when Umalusi (a body that quality assures grade 12 matric results in South Africa)

**135**

*Mathematics Education System in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85325*

**South Africa**

announced in 2016 that the "needle for mathematics has not moved", which meant that there was no significant improvement and noticeable difference in the marks for mathematics since 2014. Equally shocking was the announcement that ML had

**5. The research trends and their effect on mathematics education in** 

In conjunction with the changing landscape of post-apartheid South Africa, research themes explored in mathematics education include assessment; issues of language; aspects of radical pedagogy and progressive classroom practices; ethnomathematics; and teacher education. Nonetheless, it would be of interest to see how all stakeholders understand the connections between curriculum research, reform, policy and practice in mathematics education. Adler et al. [15] report a considerable increase in primary mathematics education over the past decade. This could be a response to South African mathematics education registered challenge wherein learners' performances at all levels, and teachers' specialized mathematical knowledge [2] was significantly low. The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) is one of South Africa's leading development think tanks, focusing on vital national development issues and their relationship to economic growth and democratic consolidation. Spaull [13] who compiled the CDE report assert that that despite some improvement, South Africa is still significantly underperforming in mathematics education. The data they collected points to indicators on school performance and teaching reveal largely unacknowledged poor teaching of mathematics in the great majority of schools. This is despite the fact that mathematics is a key requirement for not only entry into higher education, but also for most modern, knowledge-intensive work. The most recent report from the Head of the Department of Basic Education's National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU), argues that poor learner performance in most schools is largely due to the poor subject knowledge of teachers, especially in mathematics. The government official remarks that this is as a result a major problem in with teacher complacency, which is linked to the ways in which many teachers are appointed, often not on merit. Informed by the research conducted, Spaull [13] developed four points that must be borne in mind in addressing South Africa's numeracy and mathematics schooling challenge, that (i) although the improvement of mathematics teaching and learning in public schools will not happen fast, it must begin urgently; (ii) poor mathematics and numeracy teaching and learning in public schools accelerate private schooling wherein there is enrolment growth in private extra mathematics lessons; (iii) if South Africa is to be realistic about having a knowledge economy and creating more and better jobs, it will require a sustained focus on teacher and teacher-training development, particularly in mathematics teaching, and (iv) in the interim, it is likely that the country will have growing numbers of innumerate young people, and a majority of young South Africans could be unqualified to be hired in many types of high quality work. Spaull's [13] research suggests (i) the address of the inefficiencies in basic education that result in escalating numbers of drop-out students from grade R-12; (ii) the development of early childhood and special needs mathematics education programs; (iii) a systemic account of public further education and training colleges on how they train mathematics teachers, together with (v) low pass rates in higher education institutions which were roughly half the learners at contact education universities who start a bachelor's degree graduating while only 40 per cent of diploma learners graduate. Further research recommended is on whether (i) the selection, appointment and promotion of mathematics teachers is based on their teaching qualities, as opposed say to the teachers' other relationships

since 2014 also not shown any improvement up to 2016 [14].

*Mathematics Education System in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85325*

*Education Systems Around the World*

**4. The introduction of mathematical literacy**

authorities. Some of the qualified mathematics teachers either serve in management positions in schools rendering therefore a limited human capital that can assist with effective mathematics teaching. This challenge has exacerbated to a level in which the education minister has lowered the pass requirement for mathematics at grade 12 matric level to 20% across the country, a political decision that hits back to the country's economy as affected students cannot enroll for scarce skills at tertiary institutions although they have passed. In the most impoverished parts of the schooling system, better distribution of the educational opportunities for many more marginalized learners to effectively improve in mathematics performance, requires a targeted, systemic and systematic long-term mathematics teacher continuous professional development, a stable curriculum policy environment, and, a critical level of resourcing and schooling infrastructure for the mathematics education system to function.

The subject mathematical literacy (ML) was introduced at in South African schools in 2006 as a compulsory alternative to mathematics. This was done to ensure that every citizen was allowed some form of mathematical skill which they can use in their personal and work-related life (Subject Guidelines NC (V)) [1]. Although this was a good intention, not all the objectives of the subject were accomplished. First at the time of its introduction, there were no trained qualified teachers to handle the subject. Secondly, it was enrolled at grade 10 level by students who did not perform well in pure mathematics and had a weak pass in their grade 9. Such students also struggled to perform well in languages and other subjects. The objective of ML becoming a high-quality subject, which can stand independently with its own set of objectives, and not to be compared with mathematics, is one of those that were not accomplished. Equally shocking was the announcement that ML had since 2014 also

not shown any improvement in students' poor performance up to 2016 [14].

Mathematical literacy (ML) is a context driven subject that is taught and learnt from a contextual framework [4]. According to the subject guidelines for ML, Ref. [1] prescribes that it is a subject that is meant to equip the student to deal effectively with everyday problems. According to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum documents [1], 'mathematical literacy is defined as follows: The competencies developed through Mathematical Literacy allow individuals to make sense of, participate in and contribute by becoming responsible citizens who base their decisions on sound information to the twenty-first century world- a world characterized by numbers, numerically based arguments and data represented and misrepresented in a number of different ways. Such competencies include the ability to reason, make decisions, solve problems, manage resources, interpret information, schedule events and use and apply technology' [1].

The implications of the above statement is that Mathematical Literacy allows citizens to make informed decisions and choices after carefully considering all information in its contexts by comparing, conjecturing, calculating and problem solving through the use of numbers and by using and applying technology to assist them. It further states that citizens will be allowed to utilize resources, human or otherwise, in a very optimal manner based on their calculations made. Although the above was an expected outcome of the implementation of ML, not much research had been done to verify whether this is what is actually happening in real life for those students who have gone the ML program at schools. But recent studies point to the fact that the percentage failure rate is higher in Mathematical literacy than pure mathematics in grade 12 matric level. In addition, a major concern was when Umalusi (a body that quality assures grade 12 matric results in South Africa)

**134**

announced in 2016 that the "needle for mathematics has not moved", which meant that there was no significant improvement and noticeable difference in the marks for mathematics since 2014. Equally shocking was the announcement that ML had since 2014 also not shown any improvement up to 2016 [14].
