Abstract
There is no how-to recipe for implementing pedagogical approaches, as each school, learner and teacher has a unique perception of the nature of critical mathematics education. It is therefore the duty of educators and school administrators to cultivate critical teaching and learning experiences that can connect the standardised school curriculum to the reality of learners’ everyday lives. As such, this study investigated the pedagogical approaches which mathematics teacher educators employed in the development of democratic citizens in South African universities. Underpinned by the constructivist paradigm, the study employed a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Data were generated from a total of six mathematics teacher educators and 75 second- to fourth-year student teachers majoring in mathematics education across three different universities. The findings from the study revealed that there are contradictions between pedagogical philosophies and the mathematics teacher educators’ ideal image of their practice in the classroom. The nature of mathematics teaching, and the fear that learners come to class with different knowledges from their personal experience and have disparate opinions, hinder critical and social engagement within mathematics education classrooms. Based on the findings, it is recommended that mathematics teacher educators employ a problem-posing pedagogical approach which allows for the appropriation of knowledge in the form of self-reflection, a synergy of care, and self-determination which seeks to foster democratic values and critical consciousness in the development of democratic citizens.
Highlights
Approaches to mathematics teaching that do not question the curriculum and/or injustices in society, hold severe limitations for learners
The study sought to examine which pedagogical approaches are employed by mathematics teacher educators in the development of democratic citizens
Mathematics student teachers were asked: “How do you engage with your mathematics educators in critical and social pedagogy?” In turn, the mathematics teacher educators were asked: “How do you engage with your mathematics student teachers in critical and social pedagogy?” The research findings revealed that the participants had varying perspectives with regard to their engagement in critical and social pedagogy in the classroom
Summary
Approaches to mathematics teaching that do not question the curriculum and/or injustices in society, hold severe limitations for learners. To empower learners to become users of mathematics, researchers have proposed possible ways in which mathematics learners can be assisted to develop the requisite content knowledge This stems from the belief that such knowledge is capable of developing and promoting learners’ abilities to critique injustices in their immediate society, with the assumption that such practices would be capable of bringing about academic and social transformation (Gutstein & Peterson, 2005; Ellis & Malloy, 2007; Turner & Font-Strawhun, 2007; Stemhagen & Smith, 2008; Wright, 2016). The present study seeks to examine the pedagogical approaches employed in mathematics teacher education programmes, in terms of developing democratic citizens
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