Abstract:
The study investigated teaching and learning resources available for teaching
mathematics at the Senior High School (SHS) level in the Western region of
Ghana. Specifically, it tried to find out the available resources and if they
differ among the school categories, the state of the available resources,
teachers’ access to the available resources and the difference in the use of the
resources across sex, academic qualification and school categories. The study
used pragmatist paradigm approach mainly through Mixed-Methods
Explanatory Sequential design. Eighty-four mathematics teachers and 16 store
keepers were used for the study. A total of ten teachers were observed and
interviewed in the qualitative phase. The study, however, found that the
resources available for teaching mathematics in the Senior High Schools were
mathematics syllabus, textbooks, library books, mathematical set for students,
calculators, marker board drawing instruments, classrooms, furniture, and
marker board. The extent to which the resources were available in the schools
was low and there was no significant difference in their availability among the
school categories. Further, the available resources were old and not all the
parts were in good condition or working well. Although the result of the study
indicated teachers acknowledged the positive effect of resource use on
teaching of mathematics, yet they had little access to the available resources.
Further, it was revealed that mathematics teachers do not use resources too
often. A Kruskal Wallis test revealed that mathematics teachers differ in the
use of resources in teaching mathematics across school categories, (H(3) =
26.82, p = 0.000).
