Teachers’ views on mathematical literacy and on their experiences as students of the course

This paper reports on a study undertaken at the University of the Western Cape with a class of 32 in-service teachers who had completed six months of an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) course in mathematical literacy in 2004. The teachers completed an evaluation questionnaire, which asked them about their common sense conception of mathematical literacy and their reflections on their student experiences in the first six months of the course at UWC. The study has found that some of these students’ understanding of mathematical literacy corresponds to contradictory conceptions of mathematical literacy, which appear in the literature. Some expected that the course would be a watered-down version or easy mathematics whilst some viewed it as mathematics with applications in everyday life. Whilst some of the teachers perceived the course content to be “difficult”, it is important to note that almost all the teachers, except those who dropped out, have completed and passed the course, which indicates that it was a worthwhile endeavour.