Abstract
Mathematics forms an integral part in the training of scientists and engineers. In recent history the South African school system has experienced several changes in school curricula. In 1994 the traditional knowledge based curricula were replaced by an outcomes-based curriculum. Owing to implementation problems which resulted in resistance from teachers and the general public, revisions followed of which the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements had the most direct effect in terms of preparation for tertiary mathematics. We report here on an investigation of the basic mathematical knowledge of three student cohorts representing three curricula, namely the last cohort that received the traditional knowledge-based curriculum, and the first cohorts that received the two outcomes-based curricula. The results indicate that changes in the mathematical content of the curricula did not impact negatively on the basic mathematical knowledge of students enrolled for tertiary mainstream mathematics. The only exception is Euclidean geometry, for which certain topics were transferred to an optional paper in the NCS curriculum.
 Significance:
 
 The introduction of outcomes-based curricula in South Africa initiated a discourse on the preparedness of first-year students for programmes with mainstream mathematics.
 The availability of a homogeneous set of samples and a uniform test provided a unique opportunity to compare the basic mathematical knowledge of first-year natural science and engineering students entering university from three different exit-level school curricula.
Highlights
Role players involved in the training of scientists and engineers have a vested interest in the basic mathematics knowledge of prospective science and engineering students
Not all of these revisions were sustained up to Grade 12, but, three outbound Grade 12 cohorts can be distinguished in South Africa: (1) learners who matriculated in the years up to 2007 who were exposed in Grades 10 to 12 to traditional knowledge-based curricula (TKC); (2) matriculants of 2008 to 2013 who were exposed to a constructivist curriculum implemented through an outcomes-based educational system (OBE) as summarised in the National Curriculum Statement (NCS)[5]; and (3) those who matriculated between 2014 and the present who experienced a revised version of the OBE curriculum, officially documented in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)[6]
A positive d-value in a column indicates that the group mentioned first performed better, while a negative d-value indicates a better performance by the group mentioned second
Summary
Role players involved in the training of scientists and engineers have a vested interest in the basic mathematics knowledge of prospective science and engineering students. Whereas the previous fragmented curricula were mainly specified in terms of content knowledge to be learned using a transmission teaching model[2], the new national curriculum was a skills-based constructivist curriculum[3], which was implemented with an outcomes-based management structure[4]. Another major structural change to the curriculum was the merging of the higher grade (HG) and standard grade (SG) curricula documents into a single curriculum document, presumably to diminish the emphasis on individual achievements of a few in exchange for a more rounded approach to education for all learners. Not all of these revisions were sustained up to Grade 12, but, three outbound Grade 12 cohorts can be distinguished in South Africa: (1) learners who matriculated in the years up to 2007 who were exposed in Grades 10 to 12 to traditional knowledge-based curricula (TKC); (2) matriculants of 2008 to 2013 who were exposed to a constructivist curriculum implemented through an outcomes-based educational system (OBE) as summarised in the National Curriculum Statement (NCS)[5]; and (3) those who matriculated between 2014 and the present who experienced a revised version of the OBE curriculum, officially documented in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)[6]
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