CHALLENGES OF TEACHING MENTAL ARITHMETIC AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCES IN A POST-COLONIAL CONTEXT: A CASE STUDY IN SENEGALESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

Several studies show that negative social representations, if examined on the basis mathematics learning, have an impact on students' academic performance in this subject. These representations – as the product of a dominant culture – emerge within a learning ecosystem and are dependent on socio-economic factors. In some post-colonial territories, for example, they have been characterised by prejudices and stereotypes inherited from the colonial past. This article presents the results of a mathematics difficulty identification test conducted in the region of Thies, Senegal. The survey involves 2973 primary school pupils. The results indicate an average performance of these pupils in one single region. The study was completed by a sociological survey on the conceptions of mathematics in which 470 children participated: the analysis of the results, sometimes contradictory, allowed us to identify avenues of analysis that would allow us to imagine more contextualised and effective didactic strategies.