Parental Involvement in Mother-Tongue Mathematics Education: A South African Study

Mathematics education in the mother tongue (MT) has been debated and implemented worldwide. This study investigates the perceived successes or lack of mathematics education in MT by exploring the influence of parental involvement on its success. Although MT instruction improves understanding and cultural identity, challenges like systemic barriers and a lack of parental support weaken its implementation. Despite MT policies, parental support remains understudied in township schools. This study aims to address this gap and provide insights for educational equity and policy improvement. The research focuses on South African township schools to examine how parental engagement affects the success of MT mathematics programmes and identifies obstacles to home-school collaboration. Through a qualitative case study involving semi-structured interviews with 10 mathematics teachers from five schools, data was thematically analysed to understand views on MT instruction, parental involvement and institutional challenges. Findings show a paradox where; despite recognizing MT’s educational benefits, many parents resist MT due to the perceived economic advantage of English. Furthermore, teachers linked poor mathematics performance to low parental involvement.” Resistance to MT-based learning results in shifting to English-medium schools, with challenges like inadequate materials and limited teacher training. The study finds Epstein’s parental involvement framework misaligned with realities, hindering effective home-school partnerships in resource-poor, multilingual areas. It suggests three actions: educate parents on MT’s benefits, reform policies to fill MT vocabulary gaps, and adapt Epstein’s model to engage diverse families. This research provides a framework to improve global MT mathematics education.