SAMS Subject Classification Number: 16

This talk is designed to be an audience engaging discussion, aimed at drawing all our attention to the SAMS Mission Statement especially the following items:

• encourage the maintenance of sound syllabuses, teaching methodologies and assessment standards in mathematical education, and the cooperation in these areas with the organizations and professional societies with similar interests; tertiary mathematics education;

• explore the contributions that Mathematics can make in addressing societal needs and promoting a strong economy that will contribute to an improved quality of life for all South Africans;

The quoted items have a potential to impact positively not only to Tertiary Mathematics Education but across the board. We see the need to significantly contribute to improving the quality of the school system product, delivered to tertiary institutions as one of the societal needs which falls within the ambit of the second quoted item. Every year during the announcements of matric results the Minister of Basic Education and Training does not get tired of reminding us of the serious challenges we have in sciences, in particular in Mathematics. The United Nations having declared this year, 2022 as the International Year for Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development should sensitise us to engage both the problem of our school Mathematics in terms of improving the quality of the product of our schools and the issue of attracting more students to sciences.

This engagement should put us in a position to conceptualise some plan of action firstly to immediate initiate some disruptive interventions and secondly conceptualise relatively long sustained intervention to put a visible dent on the current and ongoing national problem in sciences in general and in particular in Mathematics. Be role players in “producing our own timber”.

[1] SAMS mission Statement, https://www.sams.ac.za/constitution-sams/.