HAL Id: hal-02422607
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02422607
Submitted on 22 Dec 2019
HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- entific research documents, whether they are pub- lished or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.
L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Participation of female students in undergraduate Mathematics at the University of Malawi
Levis Eneya, Lisnet Mwadzaangati, Mercy Kazima
To cite this version:
Levis Eneya, Lisnet Mwadzaangati, Mercy Kazima. Participation of female students in undergraduate Mathematics at the University of Malawi. Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Utrecht University, Feb 2019, Utrecht, Netherlands. �hal-02422607�
Participation of female students in undergraduate Mathematics at the University of Malawi
Levis Eneya1, Lisnet Mwadzaangati2 and Mercy Kazima3
1University of Malawi, Faculty of Science, Malawi; leneya@cc.ac.mw
2University of Malawi, Faculty of Education, Malawi; lmwadzaangati@cc.ac.mw
3University of Malawi, Faculty of Education, Malawi; mkazima@cc.ac.mw
Keywords: Undergraduate mathematics, female students, student performance, student retention.
Rationale
In line with declarations to improve the education and literacy of women, Malawi, like many other African governments, has implemented various policies and action plans to improve access and participation of girls in both primary and secondary education. Since 1994 the government has progressively promoted a policy of 50:50 for selection of girls and boys to secondary schools (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology [MoEST], 2001). This policy has been accompanied by several gender reforms and interventions by the government and Non- Governmental Organizations (NGO's) to support the participation of girls in secondary schools, including school fee waivers, cash transfers, and building of additional hostels for girls in boarding secondary schools. Furthermore, the MoEST developed a National Girls’ Education Strategy aimed at strengthening and improving girls’ access and participation at all levels of education (MoEST, 2014). Despite these interventions, female students’ access, success and retention in mathematics and science continue to be a challenge throughout secondary and higher education (Mbano &
Nolan, 2017) sectors. This might be because the interventions mainly focus on improving general performance of the girls in schools and not necessarily focusing on girls’ participation in mathematics and science subjects. We have not found any studies that have been conducted to find out how these female students sustain themselves both academically and socially during tertiary education in the absence of the interventions they were offered during primary and secondary education. This is important because after access to university, retention of the girls is necessary.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the participation of female students in mathematics courses at the University of Malawi, and to explore possible strategies that would support and sustain participation of female students in mathematics at university.
Methodology
The study adopted a mixed method approach using quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate how female mathematics students cope academically. Quantitative methodology involved a desk study that analysed secondary data regarding female students’ access, performance and retention in mathematics courses. Three cohorts of all students enrolled into Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education Science programmes in 2013, 2014 and 2015 were followed to their completion in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Qualitative methods involved interviews and focus groups discussions with 41 female mathematics students to gain in-depth insights into their views and experiences regarding access, participation and retention of female students in mathematics. Data analysis for quantitative data used Microsoft Excel to calculate frequencies and
percentages. For qualitative data, responses were coded and categorised into themes that were not predetermined.
Findings
Retention
Results from desk study indicate that 15.1% of potential female mathematics majors at second year (compared with 24.7% for males) proceed to take at least two mathematics courses at years three or four due to various reasons including lack of support systems and planted fear resulting from, among other issues, negative correlation between entry grades and semester grades.
Motivating factors to continue with Mathematics
When asked about what motivated them to study mathematics, and what will compel them to continue with the subject, students gave several reasons including: scoring good grades, having role models, learning the practical use of mathematics in the industry, and wanting to be role models to other girls. However, the most prominent response was the encouragement from fellow students and lecturers.
Strategies and support that would help the learning and better performance in mathematics When asked about strategies and the support that they think would help them in the learning of mathematics, all students (100%) mentioned tutorials for practice, while other strategies ranged from availability of teaching and learning materials (75%), conducive learning environment (50%), motivation talks (25%), and use of YouTube (10%).
Implications
The study is ongoing, such that results after interviews with male students and lecturers will be reported in a separate poster or paper. However, the following implications can be drawn from the results this far:
1. The mathematics department need to introduce support systems for female mathematics students.
2. The department need to enhance and increase frequency of mathematics tutorials.
3. The department need to work together with stakeholders for continued policy interventions for female mathematics students.
Acknowledgment
This study is kindly funded by Norwegian Programme for Capacity Building in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED) under the project: Improving Quality and Capacity of Mathematics Teacher Education in Malawi.
References
Mbano, N., & Nolan, K. (2017). Increasing Access of Female Students in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), in the University of Malawi (UNIMA). Science Education International, 28(1) 53-77.
Ministry of Education Sports and Culture Malawi (MoEST) (2001). Malawi Education Sector:
Policy & Investment Framework (PIF). Malawi: SDNP. Available:
http://www.documan.net/d/Ministry-of-Education-Sports-and-Culture-Malawi.pdf MoEST (2014). National Girls Education Strategy. MoEST, Lilongwe, Malawi.
