Introduction: My story

My mum was a primary school teacher. She religiously did her marking and preparations after we ate in the afternoons. Those days we will all get home around 2h30 – 3h00 pm. I would at times look over her shoulder as a child and tell myself that I will never do this for a living. Why see children not doing well in assessments, go back, and teach them again? Is it all worth it? However, when I had to decide on a career, I wanted to be a meteorologist, but would have to go to the University of Pretoria as that was the only university at the time that offered the qualification.

I later ended up going to a university and did a BSc with Mathematics and Geography and I had no idea as to what I will do as a career. I later ended up with a BSc and a Higher Diploma in Education as I had a teaching bursary. That was the only bursary available to people of colour at the time. I completed my Honours degree in Education and still thought that I will “escape” teaching as a career. However, in 1991 I started my teaching career and I was strict, dedicated and I loved the learners. I soon established an extra mural activity at the school and enjoyed it. I was confident in the classroom, the learners of the rural school were respectful, and I for a while, put the idea of leaving teaching at the back of my mind.

Incidents that I remember are fundraisers where learners practiced and sold tickets to raise funds so that they could go on a camp. Those were highlights of their year. Another incident was when girls would fall pregnant – beautiful girls – girls with lots of potential – girls who can get far in life, but at the time would be stuck in their circumstances as they would not finish matric and had no other option but to go and work in a factory or on the farms. Then on the other hand, I saw learners becoming teachers, nurses, dentists, electricians, community leaders. This gave me hope for the future. If I can reach even only one learner, it would be worth my while.

After ten years in my first post, we as a family relocated to Gauteng where I taught at my first ex-model C school and on top of it, a boys-only school. A new world opened for me and I learnt a lot more about their way of doing. I got a new lease on my professional conduct, enjoying the new challenges of working in that environment as well as working with a class full of boys. A year later I moved to my second school in Gauteng and after eight months, I took up a position at an NGO where I supported Mathematics teachers in twenty different schools, being on the road every day to visit schools. We received regular training on teacher development, how to do needs analysis, how to plan and conduct workshops and ways to support teachers in the classroom. All of these shaped me for my work as teacher educator.

In 2005 I started as a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg where I taught in the extended Engineering programmes - appointed as Mathematics facilitator. I developed management skills while I had to oversee the entire Mathematics department of the extended modules. I also lead certain portfolios which also gave me experience in new fields. A year later, I started my MSc in Mathematics Education at Wits University, where I extended my networks and were exposed to other ideas in Mathematics Education. The jump from an Honours degree to Masters level academic work, was a challenging process after a period of more than ten years of not studying. I however managed to complete the qualification part-time within the minimum time. I didn’t plan on studying further, but a friend told me that “from here you cannot stop as you will only be recognised for promotion in academic after a PhD”. Two years later I embarked on my journey as PhD candidate and what a journey it was. I evaluated a Mathematics Professional Development programme rolled out in a rural area in the North-West province. I successfully managed to complete the qualification in 2015, overcoming many obstacles.

From that point, my friend’s words came true where “you are taken seriously once you’ve completed a PhD”. From that point, I moved jobs thrice due to different reasons as we relocated to the Western Cape as well, but I also moved into my area of interest namely Mathematics Education. In 2016 I first started working with undergraduate education students and it was quite an eye-opener for me. My observation was that students needed serious interventions to become effective teachers out there. I started to mentor students and realized the value of the informal discussions. In the same year I also started with post-graduate supervision where a more senior colleague took me by the hand to show me the ropes. We started off with joint sessions with our Hons students discussing their research interest, refining them, and ultimately having a proposal. Thereafter we had individual sessions with our own students, keeping the communication channels open when I needed advice or support. I got students assigned to me for teaching practice, which opened up a new world to me. I enjoyed going around and visiting different schools where the students were placed and tried my best to support them at the different schools. The same year my HOD invited me to jointly supervise a MSc student and when I say that I've learnt a lot supervising under her guidance, it surely is an understatement. That experience allowed me to become more familiar with supervision, learning the different phases through which the supervision cycle goes.

Due to my husband getting a job offer in the Western Cape, we decided to move back and I immediately got a job offer at UCT where I worked in CETAP as the QL research lead where I was in charge of the development, the review and the piloting of the different QL items of the NBT tests. Part of my job criteria was also to facilitate workshops at the different institutions of Higher Education. The position there was interesting, especially of it's national focus and influence. It then entailed traveling around the country, which also gave me significant exposure to different institutions and their challenges.

When a position in Mathematics Education was advertised at UWC, I applied as I missed the student component at my position at UCT. I also missed supervision as the department did not have students. Being at UWC, gives me again opportunities to work with students - to supervise and lecture. My research and publications are taking off well and I am excited about my career path.