29 a mathematical community in his or her classroom where debating, discovering, probing and problem solving occur. To achieve this, help thorough professional development is required (Boger, Yule & Sparrow, 2013). However, a mathematical classroom needs time to be administered and with pressures on teachers to complete the curriculum, they do not have time for such endeavours (Leong & Chick, 2011). Teachers’ work is complex and diverse.
30 apartheid, developing and democratic country, holds valuable may be difficult to bring about in the South African classroom because of work-related issues.
With the value of equity still under discussion, there are contradictions to what the community may hold valuable. Oehrle (2010) found that South Africa, on its pathway to equity as a result of economic, social, political and cultural changes, has experienced the problem of breakdown in family and tribal values. This rhetoric is echoed by DiME (2007) in arguing that mathematics education needs to attend to issues of culture, race and power. The issue of whose values are more valuable comes into focus, more so, as mathematics is seen as a subject that is independent of cultural influences (Ladson-Billings, 1997). Foote and Bartell (2011) add that valuing and using previously marginalized students’ cultural values and experiences will make our understanding of mathematics a socially constructed one inclusive of many, thereby providing some equity. South Africa, as an economically unequal country, has prioritised access to education to improve educational outcomes in key areas such as mathematics and science, as part of the human development strategy (Reddy et al., 2012). Reddy et al. (2012) suggest that in so doing, giving access to all students to educational outcomes, the hope for any parent, society or government is to ensure that if the youth receive a good education, that will translate into monetary gain and the development of capabilities and skills that will lead to personal development, citizenship and readiness for economically viable careers. Yet South Africa in its quest for equity by treating all races as equal and striving to eliminate gross inequalities in allocation of resources, still experiences poor quality in education with progress in their ensuring equitable outcomes (Timæus, Simekane & Letsoato, 2013; Taylor, Fleisch &
Shinder, 2008). Thus the teacher who has to instil and promote these values is now facing a mammoth task to manoeuvre through the various contradictions while at the same time finding values beneficial for all and providing an equitable and quality education. This leads to even good teachers in South Africa becoming despondent and considering leaving the profession because of the extremely difficult conditions they work in (Oehrle, 2010).
The personally held values that teachers and students have can have a contradictory effect on education. Oehrle (2010) believes that shared spiritual values that work with personal values can help, inspire and create a greater sense of self by respecting the dignity of all, by listening to others, by allowing everyone to make their own decisions, by being caring of others and by
31 believing that given an opportunity anyone can succeed. These values are indeed laudable but the teachers’ ability and commitment to instil and use these values adequately may be in contradiction to their curricular goals, time and their own personal values. In addition, teachers may not be free of their own ideologies and values that may be in conflict with that of the students (Vithal, 2003). This may also be, as Maistry and Thakrar (2012) discuss, because of the contradiction of the students’ own values in relationship with others, which is critical to a students’ social responsibility. Weldon (2010) contends that the beliefs that teachers have do not only influence filtering of curriculum knowledge in the classroom but impact on the democratic values taught through classroom interactions. Further, Rengifo-Herrera & Branco (2014) contend that broader principles of ethics and morals can have an impact on politics and the economy and create better ways to develop the future of our society.
While educational policies have changed the democratic values, this is typically done with a 'one size fits all' perspective. Maile (2011) argues that the national curriculum attempts to address the local context of students by introducing critical outcomes restricted to learning areas and methodologies but not to the context of the individual student. The National Curriculum Statement emphasised a student-centred, OBE approach to the teaching of mathematics to achieve the critical and developmental outcomes (Department of Education, 2003). The key principles of C2005 remain the same even with the changes in curriculum.
Luthuli (2006) advocates that these outcomes do not adequately free the blacks from an inferiority complex and liberate them to become human beings. To do this the curriculum needs to be integrated and inclusive with respect for the rights of all, with an emphasis on diversity (Luthuli, 2006). The conflicts of cultural, social, economic and political differences that aggravate the situation in the South African context and schools, still domesticate the education population to accept the power of the ruling minority and conform to such rules (Maile, 2011).
Therefore, the values prevalent for those in power will be inculcated in students. While the curriculum fosters the values of human rights, anti-racism, critical thinking and problem solving particularly in mathematics, curriculum development spaces fostering such values are not accessible by teachers who are the implementers of the curriculum and who possess local knowledge of the context and values (Maile, 2011). Furthermore, Vithal (2003) questions whether the mathematics curriculum is moving towards the humanitarian values of democracy, justice, non-racism and non-sexism if as a society we are still struggling with inequalities and injustices. Owing to the use of global perspectives to inform its system of education, it has
32 allowed cultural imperialism and domination to result in inequalities in socio-economic situations and parental involvement (Maile, 2011). Visser, Juan and Feza (2015) and Maile (2011) argue that parents of students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds have inadequate knowledge and skills to assert their children’s rights and their values are being ignored.
Cultural values do have a place in mathematics education. Maxwell and Chahine (2013, p.62) argue that “cultural immersion not only builds a well-rounded individual but also provides teachers with the necessary tools to maintain relevance in the diverse and constantly evolving landscape that is the classroom”. The individual need of the student are now prevalent as the teacher must keep in mind the unique and personal ways of solving mathematical problems (Maxwell & Chahine, 2013). This would mean that teachers need to make mathematics relevant to everyday lives by using students’ cultural knowledge and values. Using everyday knowledge and values is one of the requirements of mathematics education (Department of Education, 2003). The use of community based values as a learning tool which reflects the knowledge of a particular community can be used by the teacher to work with diverse students (Foote &
Bartell, 2011). This does however, put extra burden on the teachers to find out about different cultural values and use them to make the teaching of mathematics relevant to the student. With so many duties that the teacher has to carry out there are still more challenges that the teacher faces in the classroom.