Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience
Background: Malawi recognises the importance of citizenship education (CE) as evidenced by its stated goals of education. In secondary schools, CE is offered explicitly in an elective subject called Social Studies. Consequently, some students do not study it. Mathematics is a compulsory subject; the...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2023-11-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Teacher Education and Development |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ajoted.org/index.php/ajoted/article/view/29 |
| _version_ | 1797223635266568192 |
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| author | Mercy Kazima Peter N. Namphande Lisnet E. Mwadzaangati |
| author_facet | Mercy Kazima Peter N. Namphande Lisnet E. Mwadzaangati |
| author_sort | Mercy Kazima |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Malawi recognises the importance of citizenship education (CE) as evidenced by its stated goals of education. In secondary schools, CE is offered explicitly in an elective subject called Social Studies. Consequently, some students do not study it. Mathematics is a compulsory subject; therefore, integrating CE would benefit all learners.
Aim: Investigating the extent to which the Malawi secondary school mathematics curriculum promotes CE.
Setting: Urban classroom with two experienced mathematics teachers.
Methods: The first phase involved document analysis of the intended curriculum’s ability to promote CE. The second phase focussed on analysing mathematics lessons and how they extent they promoted CE.
Results: The findings show that the curriculum promotes CE to a large extent, but this varies in the specific curriculum materials and the mathematics topics. The teaching also varies; learner-centred lessons offered more opportunities for CE than teacher-centred lessons.
Conclusion: We argue that providing for CE in mathematics should go beyond listing in the school curriculum. There should be more clear guidance on how to integrate it into mathematics teaching.
Contribution: Our study contributes in at least two ways: (1) Adds to literature on mathematics and CE drawn from Malawi context, which differs from contexts in most literature. (2) Adds to methodology by introducing a rating for CE in curriculum materials and analysis of lessons for CE through the lens of learner-centred continuum. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:36:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0b7f7916bea34deaa2dbe57b91af4b68 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2958-8650 2958-0986 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:40:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | African Journal of Teacher Education and Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-0b7f7916bea34deaa2dbe57b91af4b682024-04-04T08:43:18ZengAOSISAfrican Journal of Teacher Education and Development2958-86502958-09862023-11-0121e1e1110.4102/ajoted.v2i1.2916Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experienceMercy Kazima0Peter N. Namphande1Lisnet E. Mwadzaangati2Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malawi, ZombaDepartment of Social Studies Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malawi, ZombaDepartment of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malawi, ZombaBackground: Malawi recognises the importance of citizenship education (CE) as evidenced by its stated goals of education. In secondary schools, CE is offered explicitly in an elective subject called Social Studies. Consequently, some students do not study it. Mathematics is a compulsory subject; therefore, integrating CE would benefit all learners. Aim: Investigating the extent to which the Malawi secondary school mathematics curriculum promotes CE. Setting: Urban classroom with two experienced mathematics teachers. Methods: The first phase involved document analysis of the intended curriculum’s ability to promote CE. The second phase focussed on analysing mathematics lessons and how they extent they promoted CE. Results: The findings show that the curriculum promotes CE to a large extent, but this varies in the specific curriculum materials and the mathematics topics. The teaching also varies; learner-centred lessons offered more opportunities for CE than teacher-centred lessons. Conclusion: We argue that providing for CE in mathematics should go beyond listing in the school curriculum. There should be more clear guidance on how to integrate it into mathematics teaching. Contribution: Our study contributes in at least two ways: (1) Adds to literature on mathematics and CE drawn from Malawi context, which differs from contexts in most literature. (2) Adds to methodology by introducing a rating for CE in curriculum materials and analysis of lessons for CE through the lens of learner-centred continuum.https://ajoted.org/index.php/ajoted/article/view/29citizenship educationmathematics curriculumsecondary school curriculumlearner-centred teaching continuummalawi |
| spellingShingle | Mercy Kazima Peter N. Namphande Lisnet E. Mwadzaangati Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience African Journal of Teacher Education and Development citizenship education mathematics curriculum secondary school curriculum learner-centred teaching continuum malawi |
| title | Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience |
| title_full | Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience |
| title_fullStr | Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience |
| title_short | Promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum: The Malawi secondary school experience |
| title_sort | promoting citizenship education in the mathematics curriculum the malawi secondary school experience |
| topic | citizenship education mathematics curriculum secondary school curriculum learner-centred teaching continuum malawi |
| url | https://ajoted.org/index.php/ajoted/article/view/29 |
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