ABSTRACT
While the previous chapter gave a panoramic view of mathematics education in South Africa, here we zoom in on one particular case of mathematics teaching and learning, a case that is analyzed in great detail in the rest of this book, as we dig down into the problems signalled in Chapter 1. By way of reminder, in Chapter 1 we used learner performance in the national school leaving examination, the National Senior Certificate (NSC), as the point of departure to provide a description of the South African education context. Learner performances in the NSC examinations reflect poor quality that in turn underscores deep inequality. We also discussed three key factors in the production of inequality: socioeconomic conditions, language of learning, and teaching and teacher knowledge and practice. We concluded the chapter by pointing to, for example, the post-apartheid state’s attempts to address the situation through successive curriculum revisions, a differentiated mathematics curriculum and Annual National Assessments (ANAs). Through this we described, albeit briefly, the unintended consequences when implementation of enabling intentions meets a complex and highly inequitable ground.
