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KEYWORDS Mathematics Professional Development.Mathematics Teaching.Teacher Practices.Mathematics Teacher Development.Mathematics Teacher Knowledge ABSTRACT This paper reports on a pilot study on Mathematics Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) programmes in the post-apartheid era South Africa. The study examined current practices in mathematics professional development programmes and the challenges practitioners experience in the implementation of such programmes. The study involved five of the nine provinces in South Africa and the population of the study was 55 that consisted of teachers, principals, subject advisors, district officials, ministry of education and service providers. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and interviews which were analysed using qualitative methods. The study found that the implementation of MCPD programmes was characterized by different factors such as relations between labour unions and the employer, the political legacy of the country and others. The study also established that different participating groups experienced different challenges regarding the implementation of MCPD programmes. The findings from this pilot study were also useful in the modification of some of the research instruments for main data collection.

This paper investigates mathematics trainee teachers’ conceptions of proof writing in algebra at Copperbelt College of Education in Zambia. The ability to construct proofs seems to be an important skill for all mathematicians and those who have interest in mathematics education. However, literature shows that proof is widely acknowledged to be one of the most difficult aspects in the mathematics curriculum. The sample comprised of 35 male and 15 female third year mathematics trainee teachers. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire, a written diagnostic test and oral interviews. The three instruments were used to provide multiple views to triangulate the data. The results show that students seem to understand proof as a verification and confirmation tool. Many of them applied empirical approaches in their written proofs. They did not have sufficient knowledge of the right set of accepted statements such as axioms and could not identify which statements required proofs in mathematics. These findings suggest that students’ conceptions of proof were underdeveloped hence affecting their ability to produce valid proofs. These findings will assist in guiding curricula designers and teachers of proof related knowledge. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n14p331

South African learners continue to achieve poorly in mathematics in comparison to other countries. Although there are numerous factors influencing learner achievement in South Africa, the instructional practices that mathematics teachers use have a profound influence on students’ learning and achievement. One fruitful endeavour that has been used by researchers to improve students’ learning of mathematics was to investigate the state of instruction to propose alternative ways of teaching. This article examines teaching practices that were observed in three disadvantaged secondary schools in 12 lessons of eight mathematics teachers in grades 10 to 12. The results revealed that predominant instructional practices used by the teachers included homework, unproductive questioning, chorus responses, group work discussions, textbook use, teacher talk, copying and writing down answers. The findings will shed light on the kind of intervention programmes to be planned for the teachers to improve teaching and learner achievement. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p464

This paper reports on the findings of the study that assessed the capacity of the School Governing Body (SGB) and School Management team - SMT ( school principal, deputy principal and HODs) to support the teaching and learning of mathematics and science subjects at one school in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa. In this paper, only findings of the mathematical literacy component are reported and findings on the other subjects are reported in other papers. A case study was conducted in one FET school and used a mixed- methods research design whereby qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The learners were from Grades 10 to 12. The data was collected in the year 2012 from the SGB, SMT, school learners, teachers, and general assistants at the school. The findings showed that though the students were enthusiastic to learn mathematical literacy subject, the SGB and School Management comprised of a weak team to support the students in pertinent areas needed to master the subject. It was concluded that lack of communication between the school administration, SGB, teachers, students and parents on issues pertaining to the execution of school policies, activities and security, could have contributed to lack of students’ engagement and assistance to master the subject. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n1p579

This paper examines the classroom interactions between teachers and students in some secondary mathematics classrooms in South Africa. Cases of twelve lessons of eight teachers were analyzed using the Secondary Teaching Analysis Matrix framework of Gallagher and Parker (1995) to classify teaching into didactic, transitional and conceptual teaching about classroom interactions. Classroom interactions were found to be predominantly didactic. This means among other things that there was little student interaction about the subject matter; short answers predominated; there were few student questions and student-student interaction was rare. The findings will be used for professional development intervention programs to guide teachers to improve dialogue during mathematics instruction. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n13p435