Change in mathematics education since the late 1950's ? Ideas and realisation West Indies

Abstract

The story of mathematics curriculum change in the countries of the Eastern Caribbean region in recent years is one neither of unblemished success nor of unmitigated gloom. There is now in every island a small cadre of people with adequate training and experience to guide the future development of the mathematics curriculum in their territories. There is also a body of teachers trained in the skills of diagnostic testing, and the writing, production and use of teaching materials appropriate to the deficiencies found in their pupils. There is also a wider variety of commercially-published material available on which those teachers who have acquired skills of curriculum-building can draw. On the other hand, many constraints remain, and those of socio-economic origin are largely outside the power of educators alone to change. For far too many children, mathematics remains a mysterious subject, unquestioningly acknowledged as important, but apparently of little direct relevance to the rest of life. A start has been made, but so much more remains to be done.