Learners' perceptions of mathematical literacy

Abstract

South African education system has undergone phases of curriculum reforms in recent years with the aim of improving its quality and increasing access to education to all South Africans. In the heart of these reforms came the birth of Mathematical Literacy, a subject that was adopted in our Further Education and Training (FET) band as an alternative compulsory subject to pure Mathematics. A great concern is how this subject is perceived by different stakeholders, most importantly by the learners. The literature review of this study focused on factors that affect Mathematical Literacy in the South African context and explored various research findings done by previous research on the subject of Mathematical Literacy. It also looked at what contributes to learners’ perception of this subject. Various sources were used to emphasise the facts in order to complete this study. The main objective of this study was to determine what perception there is of learners towards Mathematical Literacy. An empirical research was done by means of quantitative research in order to answer this research question. The researcher looked at various factors that have an effect on perception formulation of Grade 11 learners of Mathematical Literacy in Gauteng province, specifically in Midvaal and Ekurhuleni municipalities. The study showed that learners have a positive perception towards Mathematical Literacy as a subject and their teachers and parents were very influential when they chose Mathematical Literacy over pure Mathematics. The study also showed that learners have a positive perception about their Mathematical Literacy teachers and believed that their teachers are committed to teaching the subject. It was also found that learners understand that Mathematical Literacy has an effect on their future studies and overall, Mathematical Literacy does affect the quality of our education system in the sense that since its inception there has been a great exodus of learners from pure Mathematics to Mathematical Literacy and that deprives the country of more engineers and scientists. To address this shortcoming in our education system, the Department of Basic Education should invest more on career guidance to help learners understand the impact of subject selection in high school on their future career endeavours.