Mathematics teachers’ perceptions of soft skills integration are key to ensuring students’ soft skills development. The present study investigated perceptions regarding the integration of soft skills in teaching and learning mathematics in Mazabuka District in Zambia. Ninety-one teachers, who were selected purposively, completed a questionnaire and a test on the integration of soft skills in teaching and learning mathematics. Frequencies, means, and standard deviations were calculated, and independent sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. The findings are that mathematics teachers had a positive perception of soft skills integration in mathematics and believed that incorporating soft skills in teaching and learning mathematics was important. Furthermore, the results reveal that mathematics teachers’ gender and age, the type of school where they taught, their experience and level of education did not influence their perceptions of soft skills integration in mathematics teaching and learning in Zambian secondary schools.

Teachers' conceptual knowledge contributes to the quality of teaching and learning of mathematics. The purpose of this study was to explore how mathematics teachers show understanding of soft skills and if they are aware of the methods that incorporate them in teaching and learning of mathematics. The sample consisted of 91 mathematics teachers, comprising 48 males and 43 females, who were purposively selected from secondary schools in Mazabuka district in Zambia. The parallel mixed design was used to collect data through a conceptual understanding test, developed using literature. Data were analyzed using JASP, SPSS software, and an excel spreadsheet. The findings revealed that the majority of mathematics teachers did not possess enough conceptual understanding of soft skills, and most of them were not aware of the methods and assessment strategies that incorporate soft skills. Additionally, mathematics teachers' demographical factors such as age, gender, level of education and teaching experience were not found to have influenced teachers in the way they classified teaching and assessment strategies as very appropriate, appropriate, or not appropriate except in a few instances were gender and age had shown to have an influence. The study provides an insight into the needs of mathematics teachers to have adequate knowledge and preparation in the integration of soft skills in mathematics.

This paper comparatively analysed policy documents and peer-reviewed papers regarding the integration of soft skills in Mathematics taught in secondary schools in Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia. The analysis highlights how the curricula for Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia were revised, how soft skills were integrated and assessed in Mathematics and how Mathematics teachers were prepared to integrate soft skills in the teaching and learning of Mathematics. The review has shown that the three countries acknowledge Mathematics as one of the subjects in which soft skills should be integrated. Additionally, the three countries have a common understanding that the integration of soft skills requires changes in pedagogical and assessment approaches. However, the literature reviewed from the three countries indicates that there is very little data available highlighting the integration and assessment of soft skills in Mathematics as well as how mathematics teachers were prepared. This lack of adequate information on the integration and assessment of softs kills points to the fact that these skills may not be integrated in the teaching and learning of Mathematics which could lead to producing secondary school graduates, who are not creative, innovative, critical thinkers and problems solvers. The paper, therefore recommends that researchers should explore the challenges related to the deficiency in policy focus by the three countries on the integration of soft skills in  Mathematics.

This study investigated the assessment techniques mathematics teachers use that integrate soft skills in secondary schools in Mazabuka District in Zambia. A total of 91 teachers, who were purposively selected, took part in the study, of which 81 completed a questionnaire and four observers evaluated 124 video-recorded lessons which were taken of 31 teachers. A sequential multi-phase design was used to collect data. The data were analyzed using frequencies, means, standard deviations and chi-square statistics. The findings revealed that the assessment techniques mathematics teachers used did not assess soft skills. In addition, mathematics teachers’ gender was not found to have influenced teachers’ choice of assessment techniques in the teaching and learning process but the type of schools where teachers were teaching, though the effect size was weaker. The consequence of this may be that secondary school leavers may not be good communicators, innovators, creators and critical thinkers. Therefore, it is recommended that mathematics teachers be upskilled on how to assess soft skills in the teaching and learning of Mathematics if the integration of soft skills is to be realized as espoused in the Zambia Education Curriculum Framework of 2013.