Mathematical literacy related to national issues was considered abstract, for example balance of payments in terms of the national budget. The body is responsible for the establishment of education and training standards or qualifications, and to which specific functions in relation to the establishment of national standards and qualifications in terms of section 5 (1) (b) (i) of the . «SAQA) Act.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Working for an RTO, I have observed that the inclusion of mathematical literacy at NQF L4 has presented new challenges for both education providers and practitioners. Therefore, there was a general outcry from the field about the inclusion of mathematical literacy in the ECO qualification, as there was a feeling that this inclusion could pose a barrier to practitioners achieving a full qualification in ECO.
AIM AND CRITICAL QUESTIONS
What is the practitioner's and trainers' view o the value of mathematical literacy in the practitioner's professional and personal lives. What are the views of trainers and practitioners regarding what mathematical literacy is needed for ECO practitioners.
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
THE NEW DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION POLICIES
- Justification of Mathematical Literacy as fundamental learning
ECD falls as a sub-area under the education and training field under the auspices of the NSB (05). The latter could also imply that the contexts of different learners need to be recognized in the development of mathematical literacy standards.
MAKING A CASE FOR MATHEMATICAL LITERACY: A SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPERATIVE
The workplace requires elements of mathematical literacy, regardless of the specialized mathematics that may be additionally required for particular purposes, e.g. The latter can certainly contribute to the process of demystifying mathematical literacy, as argued by Slammert (ibid).
MATHEMATICS AND THE WORLD OF WORK
He points to the gap between employers' expectations and employees' abilities in terms of numeracy. With regard to ECO, the Revised National Curriculum Guidelines define the goals for mathematical literacy from the children's perspective.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH IN TEACHING MATHEMATICAL LITERACY
The use of the interpretive paradigm thus adds value to this study, as it is about interpreting the experiences of people in different contexts. Interestingly, the importance of culture, which is part of the social environment, does not play a strong role in the teaching of mathematical literacy. Bishop suggests the use of the six categories as a way of creating mathematical enculturation.
If one accepts the constructivist approach that teaching should take into account the social and physical environment of learners, mathematical literacy should draw on these experiences Let. The concern that the prescribed curriculum may not be completed by the end of the year is a barrier that teachers or trainers face and thus can compromise their approach to teaching. The math literacy unit standards speak to the contextualization of the standards, which appears to be one of the challenges facing curriculum designers in various subfields of education.
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
CONTEXT OF STUDY
From 2003 with the introduction of ECD apprenticeships, the training provider was contracted by the EDTP SETA to train approximately 40 learners for the National Certificate in ECD within 14 months. The training was facilitated by the staff of the provider, except for mathematical literacy, which was offered to a FET lecturer as the staff did not have the subject expertise. To participate in the apprenticeship, one must apply to the EDTP SETA.
Apprenticeship practitioners volunteer at local ECD sites during their training period. Their training is fully subsidized by SETA, which includes an allowance for each practitioner. Provide further education and training opportunities for those with an NQF Level 1 qualification (or equivalent) as well as a basis for further professional development in the higher education and training band for many experienced practitioners in the field who have had limited or difficult access to further career development opportunities.
PARTICIPANTS IN THE STUDY
Enable learners to facilitate the holistic development of young children in a way that is sensitive to individual needs (including special needs) and culturally appropriate within a particular stage of development and with specialization in a particular setting or role. Develop ECO educators with a sound practice qualification to deliver quality early childhood development services to children in community-based services. All selected practitioners agreed to participate in the study and gave me their permission to access and use their training materials as part of the study.
It was agreed that their names would not be used in the study; reference will be made to practitioners who use numbers to substantiate the issues raised.
RESEARCH APPROACH
During research, the researcher discovers what the important questions are because he or she does not know enough to be able to recognize the important concerns before conducting the research (Bogdan et aI, 1998). Contexts are dynamic and a case study approach allows one to investigate the complex processes of human interaction at work within a bounded reality. An advantage of a case study is that it allows one to portray the lived experiences of the participants' thoughts and feelings about a situation (Cohen et al., 2000).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
They do this by 'taking on the role of the other' by suggesting to 'themselves' the likely responses of 'others' (Cohen, Manion & Morris, 2000:26). The study focused on how computer development practitioners negotiate the mathematical literacy curriculum and the significance of their experiences. Recognizing the context requires recognizing the culture of the community to which practitioners belong.
In this study, I first asked the permission of the Management since the practitioners are registered with the training provider I work for; secondly, permission was sought from the relevant practitioners and trainers respectively. The aim was to obtain personal and relevant details of the participants in relation to the study. The latter gave me the opportunity to validate comments made in the focus groups as well as identify the challenges that the practitioners faced in the context of the study, e.g.
DATA ANALYSIS
I co-facilitated the focus groups with a trainer from the training provider who was not involved in this particular program as a Trainer and was proficient in English and Isizulu. A semi-structured interview was conducted with the external trainer and the assistant from the Project. Since there were no fixed hypotheses in this study, new concepts could be formulated, evaluated against the data collected.
In this regard, I used the evaluation forms completed by the practitioners after their mathematical literacy training which showed their views on what worked well and what did not work well in the training program as well as their recommendations. The other data analysis of documentation used was the portfolios of evidence that contained the practitioners' assessment activities. In this regard, Neuman (1997) warns against researcher's preconceived notions that have an impact on which data is accepted or rejected.
STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Sometimes data was discarded and new, more relevant data was collected, creating new concepts obtained, for example, from the focus group interview. The fact that the participants in the context of the learning process are not experienced ECO practitioners should be noted in the context of the issues raised in this study. It should be taken into account that 58,000 practitioners were considered underqualified by the DoE in the National ECO Audit because they had not completed their basic training, including mathematical literacy, communication studies and language (Short et al., 2002).
In the case of the teachers, they were unemployed; the majority had been educated between 10th and 12th grade, some had completed mathematics at some level in high school. The fact that some practitioners had taken mathematics in high school, while others had not, could therefore influence the possible mathematical literacy experiences between the two groups. It should be noted that the data collected is by no means exhaustive, but represents only a small sample that could be used to identify issues that could potentially be explored in a more comprehensive and detailed study that could cover a longer time span with a greater scope. sample.
CONCLUSION
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
- INTRODUCTION
- VALUE OF MATHEMATICAL LITERACY TO ECD PRACTITIONERS
- Mathematical literacy vs mathematics
- THREE DIMENSIONS RELATED TO MATHEMATICAL LITERACY
- Mathematical literacy and professional development
- INTERROGATING THE MATHEMATICAL LITERACY CURRICULUM
- MAKING MEANING OF MATHEMATICAL LITERACY - RELEVANCY FOR ECD PRACTITIONERS
- Content
- Contextualization of content
- INTRODUCTION
- FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
Various key themes emerged from the data and are captured in terms of the value of mathematical literacy at a personal, professional and societal level. The facilitators were of the opinion that mathematical literacy was necessary for ECO practitioners as they teach children. The issue then is perhaps the training of facilitators of mathematical literacy, the issue of language must be considered in this context.
Thus, critical questioning and contextualization in relation to the value of the subject matter are key principles in teaching mathematical literacy. The implications of the above for training providers is that there is a need to apply policy guidance in relation to unit standards for numeracy. This is supported by the trade unions that responded to the SAQA-commissioned NQF review and numeracy inquiry study (DoE, Dol, 2002, Hallendorff, 2002a).
This small-scale study involved one training intervention in mathematical literacy undertaken in the context of the Level 4 ECD qualification. This response is consistent with the broad rationale of the math literacy unit standards, that of developing a numerate nation.
Focus Group Interview Schedule
Was the duration of the training program sufficient in relation to the results of the training program. This unit standard is designed to give credit towards the NQF's mathematical literacy requirement at level 4. Use compound growth to understand inflationary effects on the national economy. Use mathematics to criticize and debate aspects of the national economy.
Computing tools are used efficiently and correctly and the solutions obtained are verified against the context or problem. Learning providers for this unit standard will need to meet the accreditation requirements of GENFETQA. The essential knowledge embedded in the following will be evaluated through the evaluation of specific results in terms of the defined evaluation criteria.
