Psychosocial Factors Influencing Grade 7 Learners’ Performance in Mathematics Classes: A Focus on Primary Schools in the Northern Cape, South Africa
Fatima Ajimudin 
& Robert Kananga Mukuna
Issue: Vol.5 No.7 Issue Article 2 pp.1071-1086
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024572| Published online 2nd July, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This study explored the psychosocial factors influencing Grade 7 learners’ performance in mathematics classes at primary schools in Frances Baard District in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative interpretive approach infused with a multiple-case study design. The thematic results showed that some learners were not fully engaged in the mathematics classes despite having the necessary resources, including qualified teachers. The study revealed that family and community issues affect learners’ academic performance in mathematics classes. It further found that some learners struggle to comprehend mathematical concepts taught in English, their second language. Furthermore, it highlighted why learner engagement is so weak in the intermediate-phase mathematics classroom. The reasons why learners’ mathematics marks declined in Grade 7 have also been discussed in this study. The study found that the socio-economic factors that affect learners in South African schools can be eliminated if we enlist the support of social services available to South African learners. The study recommends that teachers enhance their pedagogical approaches to fit learners’ home languages, locations, and socioeconomic circumstances. This study supports the notion that more learner-centered approaches be used in the mathematics classroom and adds to existing literature on the subject.
Keywords: Mathematics Teachers, Academic Performance, Mathematics Classes, Primary Schools
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Fatima Ajimudin is a Ph.D. student registered at Rhodes University in Makanda, South Africa. Her research interests lie in Project-Based learning as a teaching strategy for successfully integrating 21st-century skills into learners in the Intermediate Phase mathematics classroom. She teaches basic education and part-time lecturing at Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, Northern Cape.
Dr. Mukuna Kananga Robert is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Free State, Faculty of Education, Educational Psychology, Department of Educational Foundations, South Africa. He is the International Journal of Studies in Psychology initiator. He was a postdoc fellow, Ph.D. and Masters holder in Educational Psychology from the University of the Western Cape. He completed his Honours degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He serves as a Special Interest Group leader for the Psychosocialities of Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Education, UFS. He is passionate about research, focusing on Psychological Assessment, Psychosocial Factors, Rural Education, Inclusive Education, Multiculturalism, Educational Psychology, and Community Psychology. He is an NRF Funding holder. He is an academic champion of the International collaboration Engagement between the University of the Free State and the Ludwigsburg University of Education (Germany).
Ajimudin, Fatima & Robert Kananga Mukuna. “Psychosocial Factors Influencing Grade 7 Learners’ Performance in Mathematics Classes: A Focus on Primary Schools in the Northern Cape, South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.7 (2024): 1071-1086. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024572
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
