Adding up the consequences of mathematics choices in schools

In order for more learners to succeed in this subject, the real work needs to start early.

- By Nicky Roberts

Some form of mathematics is compulsory for all secondary school students in South Africa. By Grade 10, learners must choose between two forms: mathematics (core “maths”) or mathematical literacy (“maths lit”).

This choice is relatively new. When I was subjected to Christian National Education in the Transvaal Education Department, I could choose home economics, typing or mathematics. And mathematics was offered at three different levels: higher grade (needed for university entrance); standard grade (less demanding, but excluding science, technology, engineering and mathematics pathways); and lower grade (more applied, numeracy focused).

My black African colleagues in Department of Education and Training schools did not have this choice. Segregated education limited opportunities. Many homeland schools stopped at Grade 9 altogether. Hendrik Verwoerd, then the minister of native affairs, famously claimed that mathematics was not appropriate for the Bantu child, who was destined to “be a drawer of water or hewer of wood”.

This history matters. It shapes today’s aspirations. South African parents’ determination to resist an inferior education is a national asset. It is in this context that the fierce debates about mathematics versus maths literacy play out. It is clear that we all want a future where more young people (especially black learners from no-fee schools) take mathematics in matric and pass it.

As a professor of mathematics education, I follow research on our maths performance closely. Recently, I came across work by Dr Stephen Taylor, head of research in the Department of Basic Education. His findings challenged my assumptions about maths participation and shifted how I think about this subject choice.

Taylor analysed the entire matric cohort writing the National Senior Certificate, grouping learners into four categories (see the graph below):