Abstract

Mathematics is one of the compulsory fundamental subjects in technical and vocational education training (TVET) colleges, and it is significant as it contributes to various opportunities in life. Mathematics contributes in direct and fundamental ways to business, finance, health, and defense. The study aimed to explore the perspectives of students of the TVET college on learning mathematics. A qualitative research method was employed, and data was collected through the use of an open-ended questionnaire. Convenience and purposive sampling were used for the selection of the participants. The study consisted of nine students from one TVET college. Data from the open-ended questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that many students understand that mathematics is a subject of numbers, counting, and calculating, which is an additional subject to their National Certificate Vocational (NCV) subjects. The findings also revealed that many of the students did not see the relevance of learning mathematics in technical and vocational education training. In addition, the findings revealed that the students’ perspectives may affect their performance positively or negatively. The study suggests that TVET students should have sound perspectives toward learning mathematics and that they must be motivated to see the subject as being useful in their vocational education as well as in their future careers.