Magister Educationis - MEd / Mathematical Literacy has a dual meaning in South Africa. On the one hand it alludes to an understanding of the role of Mathematics in the real world. On the other hand it refers to a subject that is taken by students who generally do not do well in Mathematics and who do not wish to do a pure Mathematics course, This research focuses on the identification and investigation of errors, misconceptions and alternative ways of working in the responses of students in the final grade 12 Mathematical Literacy examination. The aim was to identify the errors, misconceptions and alternative ways of working and to discuss possible reasons for these errors and misconceptions. This aim was governed by the principle that feedback to students and teachers form a vital component in the teaching and learning process. This analysis only focused questions pertaining measurement in Mathematical Literacy. An analytical framework was constructed based on common errors and misconceptions identified by various researchers’ in the field of Mathematics. This analytical framework was used to classify and analyse the errors, misconceptions and alternative ways of working in Mathematical Literacy. The analysis was done using document analysis on a randomly selected sample of Mathematical Literacy scripts taken from across all education districts in the Western Cape. Great care was taken to prevent bias and cross checking was done by peers to ensure that the categories of errors were agreed on. The results of the analysis revealed that the errors identified for Mathematics are common to those of Mathematical Literacy. The findings in this project suggest that the analysis and feedback of errors and misconceptions may help to improve teaching and learning in Mathematical Literacy.

This study explored and evaluated the prevalence of supplementary tuition in the teaching and learning of Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy in some high-performing schools of the East London district in the Eastern Cape. The study followed a descriptive survey design to address the research problem. Data were gathered using questionnaires for grade 11 learners and high school Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy teachers. The learners were the first group to be taught the Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy learning programme of the new National Curriculum Statement (NCS). The results showed that a fair number of learners (about 48%) were not satisfied with their performance in Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy and a large number of the learners (about 90%) considered a good pass in Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy as important, particularly for their future careers. A substantial proportion of learners (42%) expressed concern about the amount of school time allocated to Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy, and thought that this factor hampered the successful completion of the syllabus. Teachers who happened to be adequately qualified and experienced enough, struggled to complete the Grade 11 Mathematics syllabus in time and were concerned about misconceptions carried from lower classes. Teachers also expressed some concern about learners' lack of commitment to Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy. Learners seemingly took supplementary tuition as a way of overcoming their learning challenges. Of the three forms of supplementary tuition (i.e. private tuition, vacation classes and revising model/former examination papers) commonly available in the district, revising examination papers was preferred (about 83%) followed by private tuition at 81% and lastly vacation school. Learners spent 1.67 hours per week on average on supplementary tuition. More Mathematics learners (about 34%) than Mathematical Literacy learners (about 6%) make use of supplementary tuition. Based on these findings, it was concluded that supplementary tuition is not unique to schools that perform poorly, and even at high performing schools, factors exist which influence learners to take supplementary tuition. / MATH, SCIENCE & TECH EDU / MSC (MATHS,SCIENCE OR T/EDU)

This study explored and evaluated the prevalence of supplementary tuition in the teaching and learning of Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy in some high-performing schools of the East London district in the Eastern Cape. The study followed a descriptive survey design to address the research problem. Data were gathered using questionnaires for grade 11 learners and high school Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy teachers. The learners were the first group to be taught the Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy learning programme of the new National Curriculum Statement (NCS). The results showed that a fair number of learners (about 48%) were not satisfied with their performance in Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy and a large number of the learners (about 90%) considered a good pass in Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy as important, particularly for their future careers. A substantial proportion of learners (42%) expressed concern about the amount of school time allocated to Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy, and thought that this factor hampered the successful completion of the syllabus. Teachers who happened to be adequately qualified and experienced enough, struggled to complete the Grade 11 Mathematics syllabus in time and were concerned about misconceptions carried from lower classes. Teachers also expressed some concern about learners' lack of commitment to Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy. Learners seemingly took supplementary tuition as a way of overcoming their learning challenges. Of the three forms of supplementary tuition (i.e. private tuition, vacation classes and revising model/former examination papers) commonly available in the district, revising examination papers was preferred (about 83%) followed by private tuition at 81% and lastly vacation school. Learners spent 1.67 hours per week on average on supplementary tuition. More Mathematics learners (about 34%) than Mathematical Literacy learners (about 6%) make use of supplementary tuition. Based on these findings, it was concluded that supplementary tuition is not unique to schools that perform poorly, and even at high performing schools, factors exist which influence learners to take supplementary tuition. / MATH, SCIENCE and TECH EDU / MSC (MATHS,SCIENCE OR T/EDU)