The Department of Basic Education wrapped up a successful three-day Mathematics Education Indaba hosted by the Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga and the Deputy Minister, Mr Enver Surty in Pretoria today.
Participants included thought leaders and experts from Industry, Academia, Non- Government Organisations, the basic education Sector and from other Government departments. The experts reflected deeply on the landscape of mathematics education in the basic education sector and spent time looking at how other countries; internationally and regionally succeed in the teaching and learning of mathematics to achieve the good learning outcomes they have done over the years.
The Indaba’s objectives were to develop a South African pedagogical-content knowledge outlook that will inform the teaching and learning of mathematics; the integration of assessment into the teaching and learning of mathematics; the writing of mathematics textbooks; and the initial and continuous teacher education programmes formed a large portion of the discussions.
Through the three day Indaba the Basic Education Department sought to engage and solicit the intellectual views and expertise of reputable mathematics education practitioners and researchers to contribute to the conceptualisation of the envisaged South African mathematics pedagogical identity. The Indaba also sought to contextualise the international and regional best practices for the South African Mathematics Education milieu by unearthing policy imperatives that are seldom considered in mathematics teaching-learning enterprise.
The Indaba was a huge success, with a draft framework that will shape the approaches to the teaching and resourcing of mathematics education as the key product coming out of three days of hard and focused work. Teams led by the Maths, Science and Technology (MST) Ministerial Task Team will now take the work forward in finalising the work done over the three days and bring it to its conclusion with an informed way forward for South African Mathematics Education. These teams of experts will work in consultation with other key stakeholders in carrying this task forward. The Minister has given the team 12 months to complete this work and to present back to the Mathematics Indaba the final Mathematics Framework, in December of 2017.
Participants expressed excitement on the vision created by the Minister and committed to working with the Basic Education Sector in finding solutions to the teaching and learning of Mathematics in the country.
Enquiries:
Elijah Mhlanga
Cell: 083 580 8275
Troy Martens
Cell: 079 899 3070
