The Western Cape Education Department at the weekend launched the' Mathematics Strengthening Strategy: 2022- 2027'.

The strategy has been in development for the past two years, taking into account the changes and developments that have taken place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The strategy includes professional development and training, the constructive use of productive pedagogies, the creation of professional learning environments, research, partnerships, advocacy and parental and community support.

Mathematics plays an important role in many subjects and the career pathways of a learner – and how it can influence their future job potential in an ever-changing global environment.

Provincial Education Minister Debbie Schäfer has, for some time, raised concerns about the province’s performance in mathematics, saying there has been a worrying trend in maths participation, despite the province boasting the highest matric pass rate for maths in the country.

“We have also seen a gradual improvement in systemic test results, until the pandemic came along and reversed a lot of those gains, especially in the early grades.

"As a department, we took the learning losses into account when developing the strategy,” she said at the launch of the strategy.

She said teachers were already doing a good job of teaching the subject, but noted the neglect from parents to assist in better results.

“We need to think about how we speak about maths as adults," she commented.

Schäfer said it was clear that, from archaeology to art, mathematics is applied across all subjects, in the same way reading applies to all subjects.