Mount Ayliff Schools Maths and Science Improvement Project

VISION

• To be a Centre of Excellence in mathematics, science and technology education for equipping teachers and learners with materials and programmes in order to develop a higher competency and performance in maths, science and technology and related skills curriculum.

• To create mathematically, scientifically and technologically literate and functional learners who will be successful in a business world that relies on calculators, computers, scientific and mathematical procedures which are rapidly growing and extensively applied in diverse situations.

OVERVIEW

The Maths Centre has an excellent track record of improving maths and science results in schools across the country and works closely with the Department of Education to boost achievement in these critical areas. This project aims to increase the number of learners obtaining good maths and science results in 10 high schools in Mount Ayliff. This will enable them to pursue careers in maths and science-related fields. This project is for year one of a three-year project, which follows a holistic, ‘whole school’ approach by providing workshops, class visits and curriculum support for teachers as well as maths study guides for those schools that need it. Each teacher participating in the project will attend 69 workshops over the project’s 3 year implementation period as well as benefiting from regular in classroom support visits. Year one includes 5 workshops, while there are 32 workshops in each of years two and three. The workshop content schedule will be created in consultation with the teachers and is based on areas of need identified by the teachers themselves. On completion of the programme teachers will have a greater knowledge of the content of the subjects they teach, they will have improved their class preparation, teaching and assessment skills and be able to implement a full learner progression programme. At the end of the project, the marks of maths and science learners at the high schools are expected to increase by at least 10%.

WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

• It takes a long-term, developmental approach to the issue of maths and science skills shortages.
• The Maths Centre has a good track record and uses tried and tested methods.
• This project focuses on teacher development which broadens the scope of the project’s impact as teachers will continue to teach new learners after the project has ended.
• The Centre’s extensive experience and success with fundraising means they can easily sustain the project beyond the three years if necessary.

EXPECTED LIFE CHANGE

An investment of R 644,704 for year one will help boost the results of 1,900 learners from 10 Mount Ayliff schools and improve the skills of 90 Further Education and Training (FET) teachers.

• Increased competence and confidence gives teachers better job satisfaction and promotional chances.
• Better maths and science qualifications and performance leads to the acquisition of in-demand skills and better job opportunities for learners. This, in turns, leads to a better standing in the community and greater life chances.

The investment will also provide teachers and learners with much needed maths and science equipment.

Direct life change for year one is estimated at R324 per person. Direct life change for the three years is estimated at R1, 159.00 per person over three years (R386.00 per person per year).

NEED

Low teacher qualifications, poor understanding of the curriculum (its teaching, learning and assessment), inadequate resource provision and a low level of learner progression has resulted in poor Matric results in the key subjects of mathematics and science. This leads to low skills development, few learners going on to take these subjects at university and even fewer getting industry bursaries. It further creates a lack of Black African representation in the maths, science and technology professions.

The challenges that education faces include:

• Poor curriculum coverage
• Slow curriculum pacing
• Failure to proceed to more abstract problem solving
• Low cognitive demand during lessons
• Lack of conceptual progress in lessons
• Insufficient written work
• Inadequate reading practice
• Lack of feedback to learners

STRATEGY

• Provide needs based workshops, class visits, after school clinics and Saturday support in order to significantly improve learner performance in pure mathematics and physical science.
• Provide appropriate mathematics and science resources for schools after identification of need.
• Provide accreditation for teachers to improve the low level of teacher qualifications.

ACTION PLAN

Preparation

Data collection from a detailed baseline assessment, teacher diagnostics and learner pre-tests to determine need and capacity levels.

Implementation

Participants in the project will attend 5 Maths Centre workshops for year one of the project’s 3 year duration. The knowledge gained during these workshops will be reinforced by in class support visits by the Maths Centre Field Officers who will visit each teacher regularly between workshops.

The objectives of the teacher training workshops and in-classroom support programme are:

Objective 1: Improve teacher’s conceptual knowledge

• Teacher Diagnostics: tests in curriculum content as designed by the Maths Centre
• Charting teacher progression
• Workshops on prioritised content knowledge
• Class visits for quality assurance

Objective 2: Improve management and delivery of teaching, learning and assessment

• Baseline Assessment: questionnaires at whole school and classroom level
• Development of whole school policy for curriculum management and delivery
• Understanding the setting up of department in a particular curriculum area

Objective 3: Instigate a Learner Progression Programme

• Collect existing Matric results
• Pre-tests per concept
• Learner portfolio development
• Post tests after intervention
• Sample learners selected for tracking
• Results of impact analysed

Objective 4: Provide resources after identification of need

• Questionnaires to check resource usage and management
• Buying resources as per budget and teacher/curriculum requirement
• Evaluation of resource usage

Objective 5: Provide language support

• Analyse the kind of difficulties that learners are experiencing in the language of learning
• Translation provided of terms and concepts

At the end of the project, teachers should have increased their teaching and learning capability through:

• Improved conceptual knowledge in maths, physical science and chemistry as expected by the new curriculum
• Improved management and delivery of teaching, learning and assessment
• A Learner Progression Programme which will track all learners

Monitoring

All Maths Centre projects are evaluated by the Maths Centre Research Unit in the middle of the project and at the end of the project. Projects are measured against objectives using the Logic Framework and all projects have learner participation and performance as an indicator. All learners are expected to increase their performance by a minimum of 10%.

ORGANISATION ASSESSMENT

The Maths Centre is a well established organisation with a clear understanding of the shortfalls of the South African education system and how, as an organisation, they aim to address them. The Maths Centre’s approach to education is holistic and while they specialise in subject-specific educational assistance the organisation regularly partners with other organisation in the educational development field to compliment their services.

The Maths Centre has clear and transparent project and financial management systems and a comprehensive staff development programme. The Centre is currently fairly dependent on the current Director but there is an adequate succession plan in place.

RISK PROFILE

Key Strengths

• Concept: This project is a longer term intervention which builds the capacity of the education system by working with teachers as well as addressing the progression of learners. Working with Grades 10, 11 and 12 increases the impact of the intervention.

• Design: The modules in this project are the same as those used at university or diploma level. The model has been implemented successfully many times before. All trainers are accredited as trainers and are also qualified education professionals. The project includes practical, in classroom support as well as workshops. Maths Centre has a very clear idea of what the objectives of the training are.

• Capability: All staff are experienced and accredited trainers and educational specialists. The organisation has a very good staff development plan.

• Control: This is a well-established organisation with clear project management systems, regular project and financial reports, audited annually.

• Sustainability: This is a three year, longer-term project focused on building teacher capacity. The organisation has extensive experience and success with fundraising and could easily sustain the project beyond three years if necessary.

• External: High national demand for projects addressing technology skills gaps.

Key Risks

• Design: Working with the Department of Education can be difficult and the organisation sometimes has problems accessing relevant school statistics which can impact on their ability to conduct comprehensive baseline studies and measure the project’s impact.

• Capability: The organisation is slightly dependent on one key person for vision and drive.

• Sustainability: As with any teacher training project, there is a risk that once trained, teachers may move on to better-resourced schools.

• External: volatile national trade union environment may limit the amount of time teachers can spend on this kind of project outside of school hours.