Mathematics:
Developing children's abilities for mathematisation is
the main goal of mathematics education. The narrow
aim of school mathematics is to develop 'useful'
capabilities, particularly those relating to
numeracy–numbers, number operations,
measurements, decimals and percentages. The higher
aim is to develop the child's resources to think and
reason mathematically, to pursue assumptions to their
logical conclusion and to handle abstraction. It includes
a way of doing things, and the ability and the attitude
to formulate and solve problems.
This calls for a curriculum that is ambitious,
coherent and teaches important principles of
mathematics. It should be ambitious in the sense that it
seeks to achieve the higher aim mentioned above, rather
than only the narrower aim. It should be coherent in
the sense that the variety of methods and skills available
piecemeal (in arithmetic, algebra, geometry) cohere into
an ability to address problems that come from other domains such as science and social studies in high
school. It should be important in the sense that students
feel the need to solve such problems, that teachers and
students find it worth their time and energy to address
these problems. The twin concerns of the Mathematics
curriculum are: what can mathematics education do to
engage the mind of every student, and how can it
strengthen the student's resources?
As mathematics is a compulsory subject at the
secondary stage, access to quality mathematics education
is the right of every child. In the context of
univeralisation of education, the first question to ask is,
what mathematics can be offered in eight years of
schooling that will stand every child in good stead rather
than be a preparation for higher secondary education
alone? Most of the skills taught in primary school
mathematics are useful. However, a reorientation of
the curriculum towards addressing the 'higher aims'
mentioned above will make better use of the time that
children spend in school in terms of the problem-solving
and analytical skills that it builds, and in preparing children
to better meet a wide variety of problems in life. Also,
the tall shape of mathematics (where mastery of one
topic is a prerequisite for the next) can be de-emphasised
in favour of a broader-based curriculum with more
topics that starts from the basics. This will serve the needs
of different learners better
