Mathematics Teachers in the Twenty-First Century—What Affordances and Constraints Lie in Preparing Teachers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in South Africa

The purpose of this theoretical study is to highlight the affordances and report the challenges of training teachers to teach in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era. Research on the technology affordances and challenges of training mathematics teachers for the 4IR in South Africa reveals lack of access to infrastructure (both soft- and hardware) in professional development to be some of the factors that inhibit the successful implementation of technology in the mathematics classroom. Findings reveal that mathematics teachers have limited skills and knowledge to meet the demands of the twenty-first—century. The review focused on South African higher education institutions courses within teacher training programmes and on the studies that focused on 4IR in mathematics education in South Africa from 2010 to 2022. Similarly, while institutions of higher learning strive to incorporate Information Communications Technology (ICT) in their teacher education training programmes, there is no consensus on qualifications framework on what it means to be digitally competent for mathematics teacher trainees, inability to attract exceptional performing mathematics students, lack of ICT resources, and unpreparedness by teachers to conduct teaching in a manner possible for transformation that comes with 4IR. Findings suggest that higher education institutions should make a concerted effort through professional development to help teacher trainees acquire the technology skills needed to teach in the twenty-first century. The study provides recommendations on how to align needs-based training and the educational role of mathematics teachers in the 4IR.