Abstract:
Most learner achievement studies tend to focus on identifying individual characteristics,
ignoring the learning strategies that promote mathematical resilience. The focus of the study
is on the assets embedded in an individual and their interplay with the environment. It is
expected that resilience plays a deciding role in learners’ foreground with the potential to
affect learner mathematics achievement in constrained environments positively. This
study, framed within the socio-ecological perspective of resilience, explored how
disadvantaged learners learn mathematics in a disadvantaged environment in the Further
Education and Training band in South Africa. A total of nine (five boys and four girls) Grade
12 learners learning mathematics in disadvantaged environments from Johannesburg
West and Johannesburg Central districts were purposively selected and one-on-one
semi-structured interviews were conducted with them. This thematic report pays attention
to the qualitative phase of a broader study that employed a sequential exploratory design
that draws from the work of Vygotsky, Carroll and Skovsmose. The framework focuses on
the dynamic interactions between learners and the connection between the home and the
school. Accordingly, the findings revealed two interrelated themes, namely foreground and
growth strategies. These themes make apparent the connection between the context
and the interpretation of the context by an individual as translated into decisional
processes. Implications for teachers are discussed.
