Maths project proves to be a plus for teachers and pupils alike
WHEN Julia Mabiletsa started working as a maths teacher three years ago, she sometimes felt out of her depth in the classroom.
But with the help of Wits Maths Connect Secondary Project she was able to get training in how to teach maths better and also speak to her peers about improving the classroom experience for her pupils.
The project has been piloting professional teacher development courses and doing research on how to improve maths teachers since 2012.
Mabiletsa, a teacher at Realogile Secondary School in Alexandra, joined the profession three years ago after a 15-year career in finance.
She signed up for the Transition Maths 1 course, went through the programme last year and has since seen a change in her teaching and how her pupils grasp maths concepts.
She said: “The course is great for newly qualified or older teachers. As teachers, we sometimes work on our own. Going to the course and interacting with other teachers helped me become a better teacher.
“Being there with other teachers and throwing ideas around was important in how I teach.”
She said instead of battling on her own, she now had peers she could discuss her classroom issues with.
“Instead of battling on my own, I was able to talk to other teachers and learn new things. I have also seen a huge improvement in the learners’ performance.”
Dr Craig Pournara, project manager of the Wits Maths Connect Secondary Project, said the aim of the Transition Maths 1 course project was to ensure that teachers who taught maths in grades 8 to 10 improved their subject knowledge and quality of teaching.
He said much of the attention and funding had been directed at grades 11 and 12 but there was a vital need for professional development of teachers in grades 8, 9 and 10. This was the motivation behind the Transition Maths 1 course.
“Sometimes the teachers in Grade 8 and 9 are not qualified to teach maths. The schools ask them to do so because there is a gap in their timetable and a shortage of teachers.
“We want them to be more effective in their teaching at that level and then also be able to teach the subject at higher grades,” Pournara said.
The project has also run the Transition Maths 2 course for teachers of Grade 11 and 12 pupils to help them bridge the transition into post-school mathematics.
From 2012 to last year, the Wits team piloted the Transition Maths courses in 11 secondary schools around Joburg, with six schools located in townships and four in suburbs.
They did a study in five of these schools in 2013 involving 21 teachers – 14 teachers had taken part in one of the maths courses.
The study found that pupils taught by teachers who had participated in the programme courses outperformed those whose teachers who had not taken part.
Pournara said the results showed twomonths of additional progress for pupils whose teachers had attended the course.
He said they hoped to expand the programme into four districts in Gauteng and planned to get the courses accredited by the South African Council of Educators.