PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCE IN THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SUPPLEMENTARY TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

Abstract

The basic characteristic of teaching mathematics is an outstanding hierarchical connection of its contents, so it is important to promptly resolve possible ambiguities in understanding and applying mathematical concepts that we observe in students during their learning. In situations when students fail to achieve satisfactory results during regular classes, it is necessary to organize supplementary classes to improve their results as a means of pedagogical intervention. In this paper our goal was to present the planning and implementation of supplementary teaching of mathematics in primary education in Croatia. The results of the empirical part of the research conducted among 198 primary school teachers through the survey showed us how primary school teachers prepare supplementary mathematics classes, i.e. what they consider to be the key aspects in planning. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, t-test for independent samples, one-way analysis of variance for independent samples and correlation analysis were used in the data analysis. Results showed that teachers understand the importance of involving students with different types of difficulties and the adaptation of teaching methods during supplementary mathematics classes. They are aware that students need more help so they involve students’ parents. The obtained research results are an incentive for teachers to think when planning quality supplementary classes in order to help each student in need as efficiently as possible.