An evaluation of teacher utilisation of 'Step in new primary mathematics grade 7' textbook in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study describes and evaluates how Grade 7 teachers in the Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe used the Step in New Primary Mathematics Grade 7 textbooks in their teaching, and the impact it had on mathematics teaching and learning. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the teachers used the mathematics textbooks and to suggest areas of improvement. These textbooks were distributed to all the primary schools in Zimbabwe in 2010, under the donor-driven Education Transition Fund. This curriculum initiative sought to address the severe textbook shortage and to improve the performance of the learners. The study examined the ways the teachers interacted with and mediated the textbooks in mathematics lessons, what material they used or did not use from the textbook, how they used it, and why they used it in the specific ways. In order to achieve this objective, an empirical study of a sample of grade 7 teachers in the province was undertaken. Social constructivism was the main theory that guided the study. Stratified purposeful sampling was employed to select three out of eight districts in the province, and to select eighteen schools from the three districts for participation in the study. Each district contributed the same number of questionnaire respondents (n=30) and interview respondents (n=2). A mixed methods design, which combined a questionnaire, a semi-structured interview and non-participant lesson observation, was adopted. The results indicated that the use of these textbooks raised the teachers’ and learners’ motivation, created some opportunities for teacher learning, and improved the learners’ performance in mathematics. However, the teachers’ low confidence levels in teaching some topics, the absence of regular staff development programmes, and also textual errors had a negative effect on how the textbooks were used. The teachers did not cover all the textbook content, neither did they demonstrate or encourage the learners to use alternative strategies to solve the problems in the textbooks. A number of teachers showed resistance to the use of these textbooks. This study provided evidence that points to an urgent need for the improved quality of mathematics textbooks, as well as an improvement in the teachers’ competencies, namely by placing greater emphasis on the use of textbooks in pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes. Based on the results of the study, a framework for teachers’ effective resource utilization is proposed.