Abstract
The emphasis on high-quality education and professional development of teachers in order to improve the performance of learners in schools continues to be a topic of discussion worldwide in the 21st century. A series of workshops and programmes are therefore being organized for most of the teachers in South Africa in order to prepare them for quality teaching and learning in schools. However, in the interim, learners' performance in mathematics continues to be unsatisfactory in South Africa when compared to learners in other nations. A qualitative approach was used for this study and the article draws data from participatory action research, with a focus on teachers' attitudes towards lesson study as a viable strategy to improve teaching and learning of mathematics in South African schools. A combination of interviews and observations was used to gather data from thirty-five purposefully-selected teachers who participated, together with thirty learners in a lesson study workshop in one of the Universities in South Africa. The study found that teachers displayed a positive attitude towards lesson study even though they had limited time to engage in daily preparation, hence inadequate performance on the part of their learners. The implications drawn from the researcher's findings were that failure to address teacher professionalism, especially regarding the use of lesson study to improve their methods of teaching mathematics, which is likely to derail all other attempts to address learners' poor performance in mathematics. Participants therefore recommended that lesson study be enforced by the national Department of Education to improve teachers' methods of teaching mathematics in South African schools through innovative approaches.
Highlights
It is important to note that teachers’ methods of teaching are considered to play a significant role as far as understanding and performance in mathematics are concerned
Ni Shuilleabhaina and Seeryb [1] has reported in their findings that lesson study acts as a powerful tool for Professional Development (PD) by way of encouraging new pedagogical practices in the Republic of Ireland Curriculum Reform (RICR)
This concurs with the view of Jita et al [16] and Yulianto, Kamidjan and Asteria [17] who contend that a lesson study approach, as a component of curriculum implementation, establishes a system whereby teachers rely on one another in coaching, leading interactive discussions and exploring alternative ways of solving mathematics problems in class
Summary
It is important to note that teachers’ methods of teaching are considered to play a significant role as far as understanding and performance in mathematics are concerned. To help teachers to develop professionally, they will need to focus on learners’ in order to address the teaching of specific curriculum content for their learners’ psycho-social development; they need to build a link between teaching and learners’ mastery of mathematical concepts This means that teachers should always reflect on their teaching and learning to assess what went wrong, what can be explored further, how to explore and what can be done to improve their professionalism. Teachers should assist or develop learners to their full potential academically, socially and emotionally, so they need to set up teaching and learning situations in a special way that encourages learners to do their own thinking in learning situations In other words, they should not be “spoon feeders” of information. This serves as part of the professional growth of South African teachers, based on Japanese teaching methods
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