Date of Conferral

2-26-2025

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Sarah Inkpen

Abstract

The local problem that was addressed through this study is the continued underperformance of Jamaican students taking the upper level of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), despite the assignment of coaches to support in-service mathematics teachers. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore in-service teachers’ perceptions on the CSEC mathematics coaching received and the challenges they countered.The cognitive apprenticeship theory (CAT) was the conceptual framework. For this qualitative design, semistructured interviews with 10 in-service mathematics teachers at two Jamaican secondary schools were conducted, resulting in four themes: (a) usefulness of establishing a coaching mathematics community of practice (CoP), (b) requesting to maintain the CoP, (c) understanding the influences of CAT methods, and (d) praising intitiative for ongoing support, but with barriers that included irregular visits from coaches and limited teaching resources. Findings led to a policy paper with recommendations to maintain the CoP that will strengthen the use of CAT methods. The study’s findings can contribute to positive social change by having in-service CSEC mathematics teachers better prepared and supported to use the CAT methods which will ultimately make them better teachers and support student learning. In turn, this might improve the mathematics performance on the CSEC for Jamaican students.

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