Children with developmental dyscalculia often show impaired performance on number order processing tasks. Recent findings suggest these deficits are not general in nature but rather specific to certain kinds of sequences. One proposal by Slipenkyj and colleagues (2025) is that dyscalculic children struggle specifically to understand that “in order” can refer to sequences outside of the ascending-consecutive count-list. However, previous findings in support of this view were limited by (i) only considering ascending sequences and (ii) not accounting for other factors known to influence order processing performance such as sequence familiarity.

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Mathematics is applied in education policy, economics, and cognitive sciences as a reliable health indicator of an education system and treated as a harbinger of systemic conditions.

South Africa ignominiously ranks near the bottom in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

In 2023, grade 9 mathematics and science learners scored 397 and 362, respectively, which is well below the international average of 500.

Average scores mask severe inequality, and in 2023 Quintile 5 and Quintile 1 schools scored 492 and 307, respectively, which is tantamount to a two- to three-year learning backlog for the poor.

Structural constraints in South Africa are real. In 2023 South Africa employed about 455 000 teachers, deployed in over 24,580 schools (about 2 500 of which are private schools).

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