Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement

The national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan has emphasized on improving content knowledge, reasoning abilities and problem-solving skills of students about thinking, communicating and solving mathematics (national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan, 2006). Whereas, there is a need to understand...

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Main Authors: Mughal, Shahid Hussain, Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba, Adams, Donnie
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Published: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd 2021
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Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/35685/
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spelling my.um.eprints.356852022-10-19T03:43:25Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/35685/ Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement Mughal, Shahid Hussain Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba Adams, Donnie L Education (General) The national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan has emphasized on improving content knowledge, reasoning abilities and problem-solving skills of students about thinking, communicating and solving mathematics (national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan, 2006). Whereas, there is a need to understand the point of view of teachers about the challenges they face in achieving the goals of national mathematics curriculum. This will help leading teacher training institutions to revisit their math teacher continuous professional development (CPD) programs and facilitate school leadership in improving the quality of math education in rural schools of the province. However, the purpose of this research study is to figure out the challenges that teachers are facing while achieving the goals of the national curriculum by teaching mathematics at the primary level in educational institutes of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: In this research study qualitative research approaches have been utilized, in which focus group discussions (FGDs) were used as data collection techniques. Furthermore, thematic analysis of the data led toward the development of four overarching themes such as teachers' knowledge about mathematics curriculum, challenges relating to mathematics content and pedagogy, difficulties in developing conceptual understanding and designing lesson plans to address students' diversity. Findings: The overall findings of this research study suggested that the majority of teachers are facing difficulties in mathematics content teaching such as decimal fraction, unitary method, measurement principles, practical geometry and data handling. Moreover, teachers are also facing challenges and difficulties in developing hands-on and minds-on activities in the teaching of mathematical concepts to the students of primary level in educational institutes of Pakistan. Practical implications: This research study will facilitate the teachers and stakeholders to address the problematic issues in the domain of content delivery of mathematics. Whereas, this study recommends educating teachers about national mathematics curriculum and to develop a CPD framework for mathematics teachers for the enhancement of their pedagogical content knowledge. The study also recommends orientating school heads about the different aspects of math curriculum so that they can mentor math teachers in achieving math curriculum goals. Originality/value: This is the first research study of its nature, which targets and highlights the teacher's perceptions toward the achieving the goals of national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan and addressing the pedagogical challenges faced in mathematics teachers. There is a dearth of studies in mathematics education in Sindh province. The issue is of immense importance, the findings will help teachers to improve mathematics instructions at primary level. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd 2021-01-04 Article PeerReviewed Mughal, Shahid Hussain and Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba and Adams, Donnie (2021) Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement. International Journal of Educational Management, 35 (1). pp. 159-172. ISSN 0951-354X, DOI https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-04-2020-0203 <https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-04-2020-0203>. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092134791&doi=10.1108%2fIJEM-04-2020-0203&partnerID=40&md5=fbc57e912a68b4bb699a4dcbfc1fe50d 10.1108/IJEM-04-2020-0203
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic L Education (General)
spellingShingle L Education (General)
Mughal, Shahid Hussain
Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba
Adams, Donnie
Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
description The national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan has emphasized on improving content knowledge, reasoning abilities and problem-solving skills of students about thinking, communicating and solving mathematics (national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan, 2006). Whereas, there is a need to understand the point of view of teachers about the challenges they face in achieving the goals of national mathematics curriculum. This will help leading teacher training institutions to revisit their math teacher continuous professional development (CPD) programs and facilitate school leadership in improving the quality of math education in rural schools of the province. However, the purpose of this research study is to figure out the challenges that teachers are facing while achieving the goals of the national curriculum by teaching mathematics at the primary level in educational institutes of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: In this research study qualitative research approaches have been utilized, in which focus group discussions (FGDs) were used as data collection techniques. Furthermore, thematic analysis of the data led toward the development of four overarching themes such as teachers' knowledge about mathematics curriculum, challenges relating to mathematics content and pedagogy, difficulties in developing conceptual understanding and designing lesson plans to address students' diversity. Findings: The overall findings of this research study suggested that the majority of teachers are facing difficulties in mathematics content teaching such as decimal fraction, unitary method, measurement principles, practical geometry and data handling. Moreover, teachers are also facing challenges and difficulties in developing hands-on and minds-on activities in the teaching of mathematical concepts to the students of primary level in educational institutes of Pakistan. Practical implications: This research study will facilitate the teachers and stakeholders to address the problematic issues in the domain of content delivery of mathematics. Whereas, this study recommends educating teachers about national mathematics curriculum and to develop a CPD framework for mathematics teachers for the enhancement of their pedagogical content knowledge. The study also recommends orientating school heads about the different aspects of math curriculum so that they can mentor math teachers in achieving math curriculum goals. Originality/value: This is the first research study of its nature, which targets and highlights the teacher's perceptions toward the achieving the goals of national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan and addressing the pedagogical challenges faced in mathematics teachers. There is a dearth of studies in mathematics education in Sindh province. The issue is of immense importance, the findings will help teachers to improve mathematics instructions at primary level. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.
format Article
author Mughal, Shahid Hussain
Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba
Adams, Donnie
author_facet Mughal, Shahid Hussain
Asad, Muhammad Mujtaba
Adams, Donnie
author_sort Mughal, Shahid Hussain
title Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
title_short Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
title_full Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
title_fullStr Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
title_full_unstemmed Goals of the national mathematics curriculum of Pakistan: Educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
title_sort goals of the national mathematics curriculum of pakistan: educators’ perceptions and challenges toward achievement
publisher Emerald Group Publishing Ltd
publishDate 2021
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/35685/
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092134791&doi=10.1108%2fIJEM-04-2020-0203&partnerID=40&md5=fbc57e912a68b4bb699a4dcbfc1fe50d
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