Research
What do we know about primary teachers’ mathematical content knowledge in South Africa? An analysis of SACMEQ 2007
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP13/2014 (revised, version: 2)Publication date: 2014
Author(s):
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)
Primary school mathematics teachers should, at the most basic level, have mastery of the content knowledge that they are required to teach. In this paper we test empirically whether this is the case by analyzing the South African SACMEQ 2007 mathematics teacher test data which tested 401 grade 6 mathematics teachers from a nationally representative sample of primary schools. Findings indicate that 79% of grade 6 mathematics teachers showed content knowledge levels below the grade 6/7 band, and that the few remaining teachers with higher-level content knowledge are highly inequitably distributed.
JEL Classification:I20, I21, I28
Keywords:mathematics teacher knowledge, SACMEQ, South Africa, mathematics
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Monday 13 October 202512:10-13:10
Prof Euan Phimister: Stellenbosch Business School
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12:10-13:10
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Topic: "Allocative Efficiency, Labour Shares, and Corporate Lobbying in European Manufacturing"
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Topic: "TBA"
BER Weekly
26 Sep 2025 Free Weekly Review | Number 37 | 26 SeptemberThis report covers the key domestic and international data releases over the past week. The more comprehensive BER Weekly Review (Enhanced Version) includes a detailed discussion on the main economic events and developments over the past week, a summary of upcoming data (the week ahead) and the BER’s forecast for key economic indicators....
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