The chain of progression from teacher education to qualification to classroom instruction and student engagement, and then to learning and achievement, is not as straightforward as often presented. Societal, political and economic pressures create either a positive climate or a stressful one for both teachers and students. Nevertheless it is safe to say that in a subject like mathematics, the importance of subject matter knowledge cannot be underestimated. Research in this area supports the presumption that formal qualifications in the subject, in this case mathematics, are necessary, as this focused engagement with mathematics provides the foundation for mathematics teaching and learning. The allocation of fully qualified teachers to schools has in the past been uneven, with the supposition that students at higher socio-economic levels are being taught by better qualified teachers. In South Africa the improvement of teacher qualifications has been identified as a core area of action with the relevant policy on teacher education renewed in 2007 and again in 2014. The focus of this paper is to understand the change in patterns of teacher qualifications, and the interrelationship with school contextual variables. The analysis is based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data from 2003, 2011 and 2015, where teachers from the TIMSS sample provided contextual information. Descriptive statistics were calculated using the IEA IDB Analyzer. The results show that South Africa has made substantial progress in uplifting teachers’ formal qualification levels and in reducing structural inequality within its education system. Out-of-field teaching of mathematics is still shown to be a common phenomenon and is unevenly distributed.

中文翻译：

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南非数学教师资格认证的趋势：2003年，2011年，2015年TIMSS的发现

从教师教育到资格认证再到课堂教学和学生参与，再到学习和成就的发展链并不像通常所展示的那样简单。社会，政治和经济压力给老师和学生都带来了积极的气氛或压力。尽管如此，可以肯定地说，在数学之类的学科中，学科知识的重要性不可低估。该领域的研究支持这样一种假设，即该学科必须具有正式资格，在这种情况下是数学，因为这种与数学的重点接触为数学教学提供了基础。过去，合格的教师到学校的分配是不均衡的，前提是社会经济水平较高的学生是由合格的教师来教。在南非，随着2007年和2014年再次颁布了有关教师教育的相关政策，提高教师资格被确定为核心行动领域。本文的重点是了解教师资格模式的变化以及与学校情境变量的相互关系。该分析基于2003年，2011年和2015年的国际数学和科学研究趋势（TIMSS）数据，其中TIMSS样本中的教师提供了上下文信息。使用IEA IDB分析器计算描述性统计数据。结果表明，南非在提高教师的正式资格水平和减少教育体系内的结构性不平等方面取得了实质性进展。数学的野外教学仍然被证明是一种普遍现象，而且分布不均。