TEACHER trainers are calling for a standardised approach to the teaching of mathematics in an effort to ratchet up student performance in the subject, which has an average pass rate of below 50 per cent based on the 2014 results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

The call by the college educators was made recently at the end of a one-week seminar presented by trainers from Singapore, a world leader in the teaching of mathematics. The group of 75 lecturers and Ministry of Education officials were exposed to best practices shared by the visiting mathematicians.

Speaking on behalf of seminar participants, National Mathematics Coordinator Dr Tamika Benjamin recommended that Jamaica should adopt the Singaporean practice of ensuring that student teachers master the content of the primary and secondary curricula while they are in training.

“They ensure that you know well what you are going to teach and that you are able to teach it well,” Dr Benjamin pointed out. “They build it into their courses, so it is not accidental. Everybody who delivers that course would be clear on the processes they need to use and what students must know and be able to do,” she added.

Acting head of the Mathematics Department at Shortwood Teachers’ College Rohan Cobourne also favours the system-wide approach, pointing out that when teacher-training institutions in Singapore recognise a deficiency in pedagogy, they test and evaluate a new methodology in a specific school. When a solution is found it is then applied throughout the entire teacher-training system. “They will use that platform because they know it works,” he said.

In addition to the recommendation to promote common teaching strategies, the local teacher trainers want to adopt the problem-solving approach to the teaching of mathematical concepts shared by the trainers from the National Institute of Education in Singapore.

Joy Baker-Gibson, acting head of the Mathematics Department at The Mico University, noted that the visiting educators used different strategies and skills to explain a concept. “It was not just a teacher-centred lesson. They integrally involved the student in what they were doing. They placed a lot of emphasis on their questions on problem solving in mathematics and how to go about effectively solving problems,” Baker-Gibson explained.

Meanwhile, Donovan Doyley, lecturer at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, said the seminar better equipped him to help his student teachers overcome their fear of mathematics and to adopt a more student-centred approach to teaching the subject, which enriches the learning process.

“I learned the skill of assessing student teachers in supervising them and making them more confident to teach Mathematics. We have learned a number of ways that we can support them,” related Doyley.

In summing up the impact of the seminar, presenter Dr Tim Lam Toh said it was a paradigm shift for participants as they embraced the problem-solving approach. He commended them for being eager to learn new techniques in the teaching of mathematics.

Participants were exposed to areas such as principles in teaching, mathematical problem solving, assessment of mathematical problem solving, use of instructional media, using ICT in teaching mathematics and assessment of student learning.