Public Investment Corporation joins forces with SAMF to enhance teacher training

The South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) has been offering primary and secondary problem solving courses in mathematics for teachers since 2002. As part of its corporate social investment programme, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) recently partnered with SAMF in training mathematics teachers who are mostly based in rural areas of South Africa.
PIC in partnership with SAMF is funding the training of 70 teachers in primary and secondary problem solving courses in five schools, namely: Medingen and Malematsha Primary Schools (Tzaneen, Limpopo) ), Nellmapius Secondary School (Mamelodi, Gauteng), Putuma Primary School (Elliotdale, Eastern Cape) and Sedibeng Primary School (Kuruman, Northern Cape). The courses will take place in April, May and June 2016.

According to Professor Johann Engelbrecht, Executive Director at SAMF, teacher training is critical for the improvement of the quality of teaching of mathematics. “We are very pleased with this new partnership which will enhance the teaching of mathematics. Through these courses, teachers will be able to encourage their learners to enter the South African Mathematics Challenge (SAMC) and the South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO). This will also enable teachers to train and prepare learners for these competitions,” explained Professor Engelbrecht.

The Secondary Teachers Problem Solving course was implemented in 2002 and to date SAMF has trained 2 584 teachers. It consists of a live taught course consisting of 16 hours of contact teaching on two Saturdays and 16 hours of self-study, where teachers have to work through the content and do assignments. A DVD version of the programme was developed in 2009 and consists of 4 levels: GET1, GET2, GET3 and FET1. It is mandatory for all teachers to do GET level 1 first as many of the strategies are expanded in the subsequent levels. The course includes a pack consisting of a DVD (with 3 lectures), a workbook, a set of notes, one assignment and one test (45 min) is available.

The Primary Teachers Problem Solving course was first presented in 2014 and over the past two years SAMF has trained 609 primary school teachers. The course entails hands-on training of grade 4-7 teachers by exposing them to a variety of problem solving strategies and techniques. The training is done at a venue close to the teachers and spread over two Saturdays.

The PIC firmly believes that education is critical for the economic and social development of South Africa. This is evident from the Corporation’s core investment activities as well as its corporate social investment (CSI) programme. The Social Infrastructure pillar of the PIC’s Developmental Investment (DI) mandate allows the PIC to invest in educational projects, mainly those that seek to provide quality and affordable education. On the CSI front, the PIC is also involved in the container library project, through which it supplies libraries and books to needy schools across the country.

SAMF: Teacher Problem Solving Course Details of PIC courses 

Province	Possible Town	Venue	Schools involved	Month
Limpopo	Tzaneen (Medingen Village close to Ga-Modjadji, next to Medingen Clinic)	Medingen Primary	·         Malematsha Primary ·         Medingen Primary	16 and 23 April
Gauteng	Nellmapius (next to Mamelodi)	Nellmapius Secondary	·         Nellmapius Secondary ·         Tlakukani Primary	18 and 25 June
Eastern Cape	Elliotdale (Close to Coffee bay)	Putuma Secondary	·         Putuma Secondary	To be confirmed
Northern Cape	Kuruman (Gasegonyane Village)	Sedibeng Primary	·         Sedibeng Primary	23 and 30 April

For more information regarding the teacher training courses offered by SAMF you can send an email to info@samf.ac.za or call (012) 392 9372.