[ANALYSIS] COVID-19 disruption could be chance to lay firmer school maths foundation
, they will have a maximum of 76 teaching days left in 2020. But given the safety requirements and the limited infrastructure in most schools, it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to attend school every day. This means the average Grade 9 learner in 2020 is likely to have less than half of a normal year’s time in class.
While learners in schools for the middle class and independent schools have had access to online learning, learners in schools for the poor and working class have had no such access. And this is unlikely to change in the near future.that, in mathematics, learners in less well-resourced schools are four years behind their counterparts in well-resourced schools by the end of Grade 9. It is therefore likely that most Grade 9 learners will fall further behind in 2020.
This situation needs urgent attention. It is time to think beyond 2020, and to treat 2020 and 2021 as a continuous learning opportunity. It’s also time to be more strategic about what is taught. In the COVID-19 discussions on schooling there has been too little focus onconducted after the Pakistan earthquakes of 2005 showed that, although learners in the affected areas had only a three-month break from school, four years after the earthquake they were 1.5 years behind their peers.
A curriculum that does not adapt to learners’ levels may leave them further and further behind. The need to prevent this has led to calls to “build back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence suggests that the way to do this is toAfter Grade 9, South African learners must choose between Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy for the remaining three years of secondary school.
For example, in the Annual National Assessments for Mathematics, administered from 2012 to 2014, the average mark each year for Grade 9 was
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