Brombacher & Associates

Summary of Professional Experience
Aarnout Brombacher is a mathematics educator and curriculum development specialist whose more than 35-year career includes secondary classroom teaching and over two decades of work as an education consultant in the areas of teacher training; curriculum and materials development; and research with focus on early grade mathematics teaching and learning.

Aarnout has played a leading role in curriculum development in South Africa, where he was also President of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) and chaired both a Ministerial Committee and Ministerial Inquiry for the Minister of Education in South Africa. As a consultant to RTI he has been involved in Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRAs) in several countries, including Tanzania, Ghana, Iraq and Jordan; and has led the development and application of Early Grade Math Assessments (EGMAs) in more than eight countries. In many of these studies, he has also led the policy dialogue and benchmark development activities with the ministries of education in those countries—in particular in Jordan, Iraq, Tanzania, and Ghana.

As founder and head of Brombacher and Associates (B&A), Aarnout leads the activities of B&A which currently includes delivering classroom-based teacher training activities, providing support to the growing community of NumberSense Mathematics Programme users and the development a mathematics textbook series.

Selected Professional Experience

Team Leader of the National Numeracy Project (NNP) in Malawi (2020-2023): Aarnout led the curriculum revision, teaching and learning materials development and in-service training of the more than 40 000 Standard 1 to 4 teachers.

Research to investigate low learning achievement in early grade numeracy (Standards 1 to 4) in Malawi (2018-2019): As the research team leader, Aarnout Brombacher led this scoping research activity commissioned by DfID. The objective of the research was to identify the key bottlenecks to achievement in numeracy. The findings of the research have guided DfID in developing a multi-year numeracy intervention project on which Aarnout is the Team Leader.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (2017-2018 and 2020-2022): As Content Lead for the international Mathematics Expert Group (MEG) Aarnout  coordinated the work of the MEG in developing the PISA 2021 Mathematics Framework. Based on the effective contribution that he made to the development of the PISA 2021 Mathematics Framework, Aarnout has been invited to facilitate the work of the Science Expert Group (SEG) appointed to develop the PISA 2024 Science Framework. His role includes motivating the recommendations of the expert groups to the PISA Governing Body (PGB).

USAID-funded and RTI-managed National Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Initiative (RAMP) in Jordan (2012-2018): As Senior Reading and Mathematics Specialist Aarnout was the technical lead on the initiative responsible for all materials development, in-service teacher training and oversight of the M&E component. The project involved 2,500 schools, 13,000 teachers and 460,000 children in Jordan.

Shikaya (2014-2022): Managed and presented classroom support projects for Foundation Phase teachers in the Western and Eastern Cape of South Africa. The project involved 12 schools, six project workers and 131 teachers. The focus of this work was using in-class coaching to support and mentor teachers in adapting more effective early grade teaching and learning pedagogies.

NumberSense Mathematics Programme (2010 to date): Lead developer of the series that provides independent written activities for children. Coordinates the support activities for schools and others using the books. More than 3-million workbooks have been sold to date. Since its inception the programme has expanded to provide a comprehensive mathematics teaching and learning solution for the primary school years. The Programme has an active User Group of more than 5 000 teachers that hosts an annual User Group Conference.

Education
MA (Fulbright Scholar), Mathematics Education, University of Georgia, Athens, USA, 1997
B.Sc., Mathematics and Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, 1985
HDE, Mathematics and Physical Science, University of Cape Town (UCT), 1985

A dedicated team of professionals committed to developing the resources and providing the support to shifting the way we teach, learn, and use school level mathematics in order to prepare South African youth with the mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills needed to participate effectively in study and career opportunities and contribute to the welfare of their families, communities and country.

Workshop feedback:

“By writing this tiny note I want to express gratitude for the helping hand that the NumberSense Mathematics Programme has been for me and my school. There are few training sessions where I take home loads of refreshment, new ideas, practical guidance and critical thinking- the workshops that I had opportunity to attend from NumberSense, are one of those. Your programme really makes a huge difference in the special needs of the learners in my class.”

“Thank you so much for the wonderful course today, I learned a great deal and enjoyed connecting with other teachers.”

“Thanks for another great workshop at the aquarium. We can’t wait to get started on the program.”

Materials Development feedback:

“Our boys have been using the workbooks for 3 years and although they are flying through them, they also challenge the boys who find the CAPS curriculum too easy. We have also recently been told that the Grade 8 mathematics average at Selborne College has improved by nearly 15% and we are in the process of putting all these statistics together along with the Conquesta Olympiad and ANA results; we are confident that we are going to find that we have had a steady increase in overall results. We are very excited about how the boys are challenged by the NumberSense Mathematics Programme because we feel that the new curriculum does not do so. The weaker boys are not as advanced but their attitude towards mathematics has changed in the following ways: They complete a page a day, their mental arithmetic has improved, and they are not nervous when approaching word problems.

We are planning to hold a parent-child maths challenge because we want to show the parents what their children are capable of. This will cover the basic concepts taught in the NumberSense Workbooks and will be in the form of a race with a few family maths ideas thrown in. We are really excited about the progress that has been made thanks to the NumberSense Mathematics Programme.”

Training and school-based support feedback: 

“For many years, our school has struggled to improve the quality of the teaching of mathematics and raise the level of mathematics proficiency throughout our school. The major challenge for our teachers has been the large numbers of learners in our classes. The NumberSense Mathematics Programme was introduced to our school earlier this year by Brombacher and Associates, through the mediation of Shikaya. It has been the best intervention implemented at our school for a number of years. Small-group teaching was re-introduced and the benefits were immediately visible. All the learners in the class were kept busy; whilst one group of learners were on the mat, the other learners carried on with activities in their NumberSense Workbooks. The teachers were all excited about the introduction of the NumberSense Mathematics Programme and a remarkable improvement in mathematical literacy has been achieved: Learners in Grade 1 have extended their numeracy capabilities and all the learners’ ability to solve problems has improved. The Grade 2 and 3 teachers are excited because at the start of each year they can simply proceed with the activities in the NumberSense Workbooks as the learners now have the ability to work independently. The improvement in mathematics teaching has led to some of our learners receiving awards for mental mathematics, reading and spelling at a recent East London District competition run by the Department of Education. We believe the confidence that the learners have acquired in mathematics assists them in the other learning areas too.”