Is curricular incoherence slowing down the pace of school mathematics in South Africa? A methodology for assessing coherence in the implemented curriculum and some implications for teacher education

Abstract

A dominant explanation in large-scale mathematics and science studies is that opportunity to learn (OTL), defined as the curriculum actually made available to learners in the classroom, has a powerful effect on learner achievement. Measures for establishing descriptions of students’ opportunity to learn identifiable in the literature include the notion of ‘curricular coherence’. Research suggests learners learn mathematics more readily if topics and sub-topics are presented to them in ways that are conceptually connected over the school year/s. This article offers an emerging methodology for collecting and analysing data, across multiple classrooms, on the order in which teachers cover mathematics topics over one academic school year. The methodology outlined in the article was developed to assess within grade curricular coherence in 38 grade 6 mathematics classrooms across a sample of 24 randomly selected schools serving low income communities in the Cape Peninsula of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The analysis of data on the sequencing of curricular content over the school year showed that, when the sample of teachers exercised their own judgment in deciding on the order in which to cover mathematics content across the school year, most teachers did not present learners with a coherent programme of learning ‘in the disciplinary sense’ (Schmidt,Wang and McKnight, 2005). The article considers some implications for mathematics teacher education and professional development.