Outdated teaching models and curriculums have been weighed under the complexities of knowledge acquisition in the digital age, which was catapulted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having recently graduated with a PhD in Education Management, the False Bay TVET College Acting Fundamentals Programme Head recommends looking to Japan, investigating the success of alternative teaching and learning methods.
Dr Shaik Mohammed Hassan started his journey with the College in 2010 as a Mathematical Literacy Lecturer and was promoted to the post of Acting Program Head for Fundamentals in 2020.
His journey to attaining his PhD started in 2017, when his research proposal was approved by Unisa and he commenced with his qualification in 2018.
Dr Hassan successfully completed his PhD in Education Management with his thesis ‘Lesson study as a management strategy to improve performance in space, shape and orientation in Mathematical Literacy at Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges’.
His role as Manager and Education Specialist for Mathematics at False Bay TVET College assisted Dr Hassan greatly in achieving his PhD. “Through my mathematics student and lecturer classroom engagements, I observed quite a lot of misconceptions and errors students make in mathematics. I wanted this to be the basis of my PhD, but from a management viewpoint”, said Dr Hassan.
The introduction of the lesson study-participative model has proven to have been a great success in Japan and is now being implemented at schools and colleges in the UK and USA. Going forward, Dr Hassan would like to share his findings with other higher learning institutions for implementation. Through a phase-in approach to tackle the mathematical misconceptions, he admits that you need to be prepared to sustain the process of lesson-study for at least a year with a minimum of three cycles to see results.
Still not a quick fix to the high drop/failure rate of mathematics learners in basic education, the lesson study-participative model provides another teaching tool to make mathematics more comprehensive to learners.
False Bay TVET College, Deputy Principal for Academic Services, Ms Charlene Matthews said “False Bay TVET College prides itself as being a progressive institution of higher learning. We promote lifelong learning in programmes that present good prospects of employment. We celebrate Dr Hassan’s noteworthy achievement of achieving his PhD especially in a subject like mathematics, which is required in most artisan engineering trades.”
For more information on the Thesis, please feel free to contact Dr Mohammad Hassan on Mohammad.Hassan@falsebay.org.za