Identifying elements of social identity development for mathematics teachers in the Western Cape, South Africa for professional online engagement

Abstract

This paper reports on the analyses of a custom-made questionnaire distributed to systematic random selected teachers in 179 schools in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The purpose of the analysis was to enquire what Mathematics in the Western Cape Education Department regard as essential elements to develop their social professional identity for online professional engagement. The Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University conducted a principal axis factor analysis to validate the correlation coefficient between the factors of the questionnaire and cluster the factors into eleven essential elements. A Cronbach Alpha of 0.7 for most of the factors validated the reliability of the extracted factors. Engelström’s Third Generation Activity Theory Model conceptualized the factors. Mathematics teachers regard the provision of resources, access to personal and virtual learning environments and adequate professional development models and framework as components for the transformations of the social professional identity for professional online engagement.