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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Upcoming Seminars
Monday 28 July 202512:00-13:00
Dr Neil Rankin: Ceo Of Predictive Insights & Stellenbosch University
Topic: "TBC"
12:00-13:00
Prof Willem Boshoff
Topic: "Two competing approaches in South African competition policy: merger control and anti-cartel enforcement over the past 30 years"
12:00-13:00
Prof Derek Yu: University Of The Western Cape
Topic: "Examining the teaching, assessment and research activities of the South African Economics Departments"
BER Weekly
13 Jun 2025 Another global flashpoint ignites as Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilitiesThe story for the week was initially relatively positive, with the overarching narrative being that the US and China agreed on a trade truce. However, overnight, Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites and killed senior commanders in dozens of strikes. While Israel has attacked Iran before, this is the first time nuclear facilities were...
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