Effective Pedagogical Approaches for Enhancing Students' Mathematics Achievement and Proficiency

Abstract Despite various measures implemented by different stakeholders to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics in Tanzania, the pass rate for students in the Form Four national examinations has remained below 25% for over fifteen consecutive years. This ongoing widespread failure in mathematics is probably linked to several factors, including teaching methods used by educators, attitudes of students and teachers towards the subject, political influences, community perspectives, and the overall school environment surrounding the learners. This paper explores the most effective strategies that teachers and other stakeholders can adopt to make mathematics lessons more engaging and promote positive attitudes among students, thereby unlocking their potential in the subject. These strategies were initially identified through a scoping review of existing scholarly works sourced from various databases and then tested for practicality and relevance in selected secondary schools in Tanzania by sharing them with mathematics teachers and students. Additionally, a group of twenty (20) pre-service mathematics teacher trainees, enrolled at a university and volunteering to support mathematics teaching in the selected schools, implemented these strategies. The teaching support programme was conducted on weekends, during vacations, or on days when the pre-service teachers had fewer classes at the university. On average, each volunteer dedicated four hours per week to visiting schools and supporting the mathematics teaching and learning process. Feedback from teachers and students, students’ scores before and after the intervention, and lessons learnt from the programme helped to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed strategies in unlocking students’ potential in mathematics.