Intervention Support for Children who Experience Mathematics Difficulties in Grade 3

Abstract

The South African government’s policy that all children should be taught because as it is an important and necessary life skill that cannot be done without. However many teachers are still finding it difficult to teach children to solve mathematical problems. performance is a universal outcry in South Africa. Children as early as foundation phase are unable to solve mathematical difficulties. In her analysis Naledi Pandor noted in that only 35% of children in South Africa can read, write and count. According to the Global Competitiveness Survey of the World Economic Forum out of 131 surveyed countries South Africa was ranked 128 for the quality of its and science education. Between 1998 and 2005 education in South Africa education improved quantitatively and not qualitatively in comparison with other developing countries. The trends in International & Science study in 2003, shows South Africa at the bottom pile of 46 participating countries. It was even lower than Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Botswana to mention but few. The South African children achieved significantly poorer results than all other participating countries, including Morocco and Tunisia, and were (on average) older than all other children. Using the qualitative approach, the study will explore designing a model for Foundation Phase teachers in supporting children who experience mathematical difficulties, and then to investigate the factors that contribute to mathematics problems in Foundation Phase children and to determine intervention strategies are in place in supporting children who experience mathematics difficulties. Five teachers will be interviewed, observed and the documents will also be collected.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1652