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Unpacking Mathematical Literacy Teachers' understanding of the concept of inflation

Abstract This article reports on a study carried out with a group of 83 Mathematical Literacy teachers who were enrolled for an Advanced Certificate in Education programme at a South African university. The purpose of this study was to explore the Teachers' conceptions of the inflation rate. Data for the study was generated from the Teachers' responses to specific test items that formed part of their classroom assessment. The study was interpretative in nature, utilizing a document analysis of the Teachers' written responses. The analytic framework was drawn from Sfard's process-object understanding theory. The findings reveal varying levels of engagement with the concept. One quarter of the teachers were able to move easily between using the inflation rate signifier both as a process and as an object, another quarter of the teachers were able to access a process understanding of the inflation rate concept but struggled to use the inflation rate signifier as an object. Two other groups of teachers displayed fundamental problems with the process-object duality of the concept of percentage, which limited their use of the inflation rate signifier.