The use of workbooks in South African grade 3 mathematics classrooms

Manono Mdluli

doi:10.4102/sajce.v4i1.118

Abstract

The poor performance of South African learners on national and international benchmark tests in mathematics and literacy has prompted the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) to devise intervention strategies, one of which is the provision of workbooks for learners. This paper is based on a case study of six Grade 3 teachers’ use of DBE workbooks. Data from classroom observations and interviews are reported and analyzed in relation to literature on mathematical and pedagogical resources. The key finding is that teachers use the workbooks in disparate ways as a resource and that the majority of the teachers in the case study use the workbooks in ways that do not resonate with the DBE’s intentions. We argue that the provision of resources alone may not lead to improved teaching and learning in primary school mathematics classrooms and that pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes need to include a focus on how resources such as workbooks can be utilized optimally

Highlights

A range of studies has shown that South African children lag behind their international counterparts in mathematics and language assessments (Shepherd 2011)
In an attempt to address poor learner performance, the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) intervention strategy introduced in 2011 included the production and distribution of workbooks as additional support for teachers (DBE 2011b)
This paper presents stories of six teachers using the DBE workbooks followed by reflections on and discussion of findings emerging from these reflections

Summary

Introduction

A range of studies has shown that South African children lag behind their international counterparts in mathematics and language assessments (Shepherd 2011). She used the English version of DBE workbook 2 in her class Though this teacher was observed for the first time on the same day as teacher 3, she started her first lesson by asking learners to open to page 7 of the workbook which dealt with counting from 601 to 700 as she walked to the chalkboard. The teachers agreed that since the Plotting grid was designed by the district office to “guide [them] on which concepts to cover on a weekly basis” it was the main driver for selection and pacing of teaching They were required to do some Mental Maths and use the DBE workbook. With these teachers believing that they needed to simultaneously use the multitude of disparate district and government documents offering support on how to negotiate the mathematics curriculum, their approach was uncoordinated

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion