Teaching 5- and 6-Year-Olds to Count: Knowledge of South African Educators

Mathematics learning and teaching continues to be a challenge in the South African education system. This challenge is observed in the poor performance of students in national and international assessments. Research suggests that teachers’ content knowledge and knowledge of teaching mathematics contribute significantly to students’ performance. In this paper, I explore educators’ understanding of counting concepts and how they go about teaching 5- and 6-year-old children to count. A questionnaire using scenarios was administered to 17 educators in the Eastern Cape to gauge their understanding of these areas. A qualitative analysis was conducted and this was followed by a thematic report. The findings of this study indicate that teacher knowledge for teaching counting is superficial. The building blocks that 5–6 year old students need to develop counting skills are not fully understood by educators. In addition, the educators demonstrated some understanding of the role of assessment in mediating learning but used assessment jargon without necessarily comprehending its meaning.