A: Welcome to this session, I am very grateful to you for accepting my offer to do this interview.
This interview is an interview for which I am doing towards the master’s programme on the investigating the professional development of students who has passed the Ace Math Lit programme. in NMMU. My first question what was your reason for enrolling on this Ace programme?
B: Our principal asked all the teachers in my school to apply for the Math Lit Ace Programme.
She said we must take the advantage because it was sponsored by the government it’s all paid for and that’s why we all applied and fortunately it was only me in my school that was chosen by the department.
A: Do you also look at it as a reason to upgrade?
B: Not exactly because I did not know what the math lit ace was all about. When I started the course I knew it was only helping me to understand Math Lit because they said it was not for upgrading for those who have done the Bed for a degree but those who were having three years it was upgrading for them because they would move to another scale or notch or something like that.
A: Do you think the learner content, do you think it was easy to teach, do you enjoy teaching it, the other subject you were teaching before this.
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B: Actually I after I did math lit I enjoyed Math Lit more, I was teaching math before and I enjoyed teaching Math Lit more than teaching math after the Ace Programme.
A: Why did you think that you would enjoy it more, what made you think that you would enjoy teaching math lit better than teaching math where the students did better or?
B: It was because it was easy to explain its not for solve for x and the learners not able to get it but this one was in context its easy to work with the problem that is based on context so it was easy and we were able to discuss and share and learners knew what was expected of them and what they supposed to do.
A: How did this programme impact on your professional development in terms of the content knowledge?
B: As I have said the content was clearer, many things were easy to apply and deliver because it was based on context... I remember I was teaching before there was this thing of standard grade and higher grade.
A: How did it impact on your professional development in terms of the teaching methods, how you taught it in the classroom.
B: The teaching as well was made easy by the very same fact that it was based on the context so it was easier to relate to learners when the problem is based on the context and the book that we were using it was simple, it was easy to understand. It was moving from that kind of teaching, give problem to the learners, here we were all involved together now there is more understanding between learners and teachers when we are teaching the math lit.
A: So you think you are able to vary your methods, use a variety.
B: Yes, In fact we were talking about the many teaching methods like the group discussions, all of those methods we applied when we were doing the Ace to use what method when we doing a section. Books.
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A: How did this programme impact on your professional development in terms of your confidence as a teacher in the classroom?
B: The confidence was high because it was not like math which I was teaching where some learners feared math when they do math lit and you explain to them they seem to enjoy it, they understand it and there is that about the new subject which is called now as pure math and they did accept out morale as math lit educators because we and our learners are now moving together.
A: How has this programme impacted on your professional development in any other aspects, we spoke about content knowledge, teaching methods, confidence, are there any other aspects that you want to discuss about your professional development?
B: I think it is about post student teaching, how we impart with the knowledge impart to our learners and pass it along. The way we approach our teaching.
A: What is in your opinion, what do you think about time tabling, mode of delivery and the contact sessions during your studying of the Ace Math Literacy while you were in that programme?
B: The contact sessions?
A: The contact sessions, the mode of delivery and what did you think about time tabling?
B: It suited me well because we were doing it on Saturdays unlike us were supposed to go for afternoon sessions. It was fine.
A: In NMMU they did not do modules, they did not offer modules in the programmes, they did grade ten, eleven and grade twelve in the two years that you studied, what was the most useful aspect of those different grades that you did, most useful aspects in all that you studied.
B: Although we were not taught like now because it was the book that was used, there were four modules, in 2006 I was in the first group, I remember that the other three modules were very
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good because they involved math and the last one was more theory and I didn’t enjoy that because I was used to math.
A: What is your opinion about the materials was it sufficient?
B: It was sufficient because when we were doing it was very easy.
A: Do you think that you needed more materials. The programme should have supplied more textbooks,
B: I think at that time it was sufficient; we were having handouts as well. The Mark. book was very good. Even when you write the exam and test everything was easy. At that time it was enough.
A: What is the opinion about the quality of the tutors?
B: The tutors were fine, I must say in my group my tutors seem to be understanding and knew what he was doing and he presented the matter very well so we can understand and he was compassionate about Math Lit helping us. We had a good tutor.
A: What was your opinion about the content covered in the modules?
B: I think it was sufficient because math lit offered those learners and everything we covered was enough.
A: What was your opinion about the administration support, administration queries, results, dps.
B: I can’t talk much about this because I never had any problem.
A: What is your opinion about the centre and the venue?
B: We started in Umbumbulu and it was fine then we moved to Durban teachers centre it was fine but it was far because I am coming from Hammarsdale but it was manageable.
A: Which section in Math Literacy do you feel you have total confidence or you lack the confidence and why?
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B: Because I have taught it for many years now I think all the sections are more or less the same now. I have confidence in all of them. I started teaching math lit in 2006 and more or less the same topics I think I mastered it.
A: Now you told me you were a math teacher so that means you taught grade eight and nine math.
B: Yes at that time.
B: Yes, I was teaching grade eight, nine and ten.
A: While you were doing your Ace math lit. Do you think this helped you in teaching math literacy?
B: Yes it did a lot and I could see the others who were with me the group did not have a math background struggled and those with a math background found it very easy except for the theory part, the last module that we did but the other modules were fine.
A: What can you say about academic support, what is your opinion about the support the university offered and how could they improve on this?
B: did not see anything problematic in this Ace programme because the tutors helped us a lot there.
A: You started the programme, what has stopped you from dropping out of the programme?
B: I was enjoying it, it was easy. That is why I applied for Bed honors because I thought it was going to be the same thing only to find out that it is very different, more of a theory now in honours.
A: How would you advise the university to improve on the programme?
B: I enjoyed it; I don’t know where they can improve except personally I did not enjoy the theory part.
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A: What are the learners misconceptions in math lit and how do you cope about these misconceptions, some students have misconceptions when you teach math lit.
B: The misconceptions happen in certain areas and if you would have picked it up as a teacher it is easy to deal with these misconceptions. If you prepare your work you will know what to expect from them, it will be easy to pick up those misconceptions you will sit with them and discuss with them and know how they are approaching things and the reason behind their thinking and they have a problem of understanding this here and then this should be done like this then it is easy to deal with it.
A: Thank you very much I really appreciate your responses. Thank you for allowing me to conduct this interview.