The affordances of ethnomathematical perspectives in pre-service Mathematics teacher education at selected universities in South Africa

Abstract

The rationale for this study was to investigate the affordances of ethnomathematical perspectives in pre-service mathematics teacher education at selected universities in South Africa. Over the past decades, researchers have shown that mathematics teachers lack awareness of ethnomathematics approaches and how they can be integrated into the classroom. Among the possible reasons for the teachers’ insufficient pedagogical knowledge in ethnomathematics is that pre-service mathematics teacher education is not adequately preparing student teachers in ethnomathematics. Consequently, the study sought to answer the research question: What are the affordances of ethnomathematical perspectives in pre-service mathematics teacher education? Through this question, the study explored, among others, teacher educators’, an expert’s and student teachers’ understanding and perceptions of ethnomathematics, and how mathematics education modules prepare student teachers for ethnomathematics. Furthermore, the ethnomathematics intervention was conducted to scaffold, and enhance student teachers’ professional development through practical ways in which they can integrate ethnomathematics in their prospective classrooms. The study adopted a multiple case study, which involved a total of 24 participants (6 teacher educators, an ethnomathematics expert, and 17 student teachers) in pre-service mathematics teacher education from three selected universities in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from teacher educators, the ethnomathematics expert and student teachers. In addition, a pre-intervention questionnaire and focus group interviews were adopted to collect data from student teachers’ participants. Document analysis also served as a data collection method. Ethnomathematics intervention was used to scaffold student teachers’ professional development on ethnomathematics pedagogies. As a result of COVID-19 and time constraints, the intervention was conducted in one of the three selected universities. Engeström's (1987) third-generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was adopted in the second stage of data analysis to provide insight on challenges that either promote or prevent the integration of ethnomathematics. The findings of this study revealed, amongst others, that ethnomathematics may enhance learners’ understanding of abstract mathematics concepts; there is a lack of focus on ethnomathematics in pre-service mathematics education; and the need to prepare student teachers in ethnomathematics to change their mindset about the nature of mathematics. Further findings revealed that a lack of contextualised mathematics textbooks, technology approaches, and time constraints are some of the factors that could hinder effective integration of ethnomathematical perspectives in mathematics classrooms. With regard to technology

approaches, it was found that the 21st century classrooms are characterised by learners who are technologically driven and, as such, using ethnomathematics may possibly be irrelevant to them. Recommendations for curriculum material development, pre-service and in-service mathematics teacher education; and future research in terms of intervention workshops and student teachers’ actual classroom practices were suggested.