Abstract:

The Higher Professional Technical Courses (CTeSP) at P.PORTO are organized around four school semesters. These include one semester for vocational work placement in the second year. Having succeeded, the students will be awarded a Senior Technical Officer Certificate, corresponding to a level 5 in the National Qualifications Framework. Then, students can apply to P.PORTO's undergraduate courses. Students attending CTeSP come from different backgrounds and competencies, as they followed diverse paths and different levels of Mathematics in high school. Teaching these courses is a challenging task and knowing the students' profiles is crucial so that pedagogical strategies can be adapted to ensure that no one is left behind.

In this paper, we study the profile and the mathematical self-concept of students attending CTeSP at ISCAP/P.PORTO in the academic year of 2021/2022. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate students’ opinion in this regard. The results revealed that most students attended professional or technological courses in secondary education. In addition, some of them finished high school by taking mathematics only up to the 9th grade.

Concerning mathematical self-concept, nearly 31% of students rated their mathematical knowledge as "Poor" or "Very Poor” and identified the topic "Functions" as the most problematic. Almost 30% of the respondents reported having problems with some elementary school math concepts, such as fractions, equations, and inequalities, and more than 13% admitted having difficulties in all subjects. Over 30% consider math as “Difficult” or “Very difficult” subject. While 10% of the students indicated that they did not like mathematics, more than 53% of them enjoy it.

Regarding future prospects, about 85% of the students in this study intend to continue their education and will be enrolled in a degree after finishing the CTeSP. Moreover, more than 77% of them prefer ISCAP's degrees.

Keywords:

CTeSP, Mathematics, competencies, background, inclusion.