Background: South Africa is a developing country whose education system is experiencing a
transformation constrained by a legacy of apartheid. The latest TIMSS results confirm the uneven
distribution of achievement in mathematics and science. Chief among the problems is that there is a
dearth of suitably qualified and experienced teachers to teach the subjects effectively. Moreover the
many teachers are unfamiliar with learner-centred pedagogies espoused in the curriculum. Continuing
teach professional development (CPD) in subject matter knowledge (SMK) and learner-centred
pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is acknowledged to be a viable solution. However, for it to be
relevant, CPD must be constantly informed by teacher needs and perceptions of self-efficacy.
Aims: This study sought to compile teachers’ reflections on the effectiveness or otherwise of their inservice
training and to seek feedback on how regularly they perceived themselves to be applying
learner-centred constructivist pedagogy in their mathematics and science classrooms. The research
questions which guided the study included: What were the teachers’ perceptions about their CPD
programme in relation to the relevance of the content to the curriculum and the pedagogical
approaches? To what extent did the teachers perceive themselves to be applying learner-centred
constructivist approaches in their classrooms at the commencement of the 3-year CPD programme?
Methodology: Eighty-nine teachers attending a CPD programme in early 2013 were asked to complete
reflection journals on a daily basis for the duration of a two-week contact session. The reflection
journals, as a participant-observer record of thinking critically and analytically about one’s learning
experiences constituted the qualitative data sources for this study. The same teachers completed a 5-
point Likert scale Constructivist Learning Environments Survey (CLES) questionnaire to evaluate the
frequency with which they perceived themselves to be implementing constructivist teaching and
learning approaches in their science and mathematics classrooms. The CLES results constituted a
quantitative data source making the study a mixed-methods approach.
Results of the Study: Teacher reflections on the suitability of their in-service showed an awareness of
the need for a paradigm shift in the way mathematics and science are taught. They appreciated the
usefulness of the workshop in enriching their SMK and PCK and showed a willingness to change their
teaching practices to emulate the learner-centred approaches modelled by CPD facilitators.
Questionnaire results showed that teachers perceived their learners to be only moderately interested
in learning mathematics and science (a mean of 3.47), to moderately experience their learning as
personally relevant to their out-of-school life (mean of 3.61) but showing a rather lacklustre interest in
taking responsibility for their own learning (a mean of 2.65). They further perceived themselves to be
offering high levels of support to learners (a mean of 4.31). A recommendation emanating from this
study is to extend the CLES survey to learners’ perspectives for a more complete picture.