Understanding the challenges of the secondary-tertiary transition in mathematics for economics in higher education: a literature review

Abstract

This review paper examines the issues identified by research regarding students transitioning from school mathematics to service mathematics modules within economics education at the tertiary level. Literature was gathered in four steps, mainly through hand-searching strategies from journals, books, conference proceedings and reports. The results show that existing research addresses the challenges of students to cope with changed roles of students and teachers, as well as with new approaches to teaching and assessment, in the transition phase between education levels. Special issues identified for service mathematics in economics education are (i) issues of heterogeneous mathematics background in the student group, (ii) of mismatch in expectations about mathematics level and demand and (iii) the issue of relevance of mathematics. This review helps practitioners gain deeper insights into these multifaceted issues of transition. Furthermore, several potential directions for further research in the field are recommended.