Author's Name:	Dr. Wellington Samkange & Mrs Cecilia Samkange
Subject Area:	Social Science and Humanities
Subject	Education
Section	Research Paper

Balanced Mathematics instruction; Early Childhood Development; Mathematics curriculum; theories; child-centred; teacher-centred

The arguments on how best children learn and develop have taken centre stage in education. Different views have been expressed in terms of approaches that promote child development. Approaches and philosophies by different philosophers such as Dewey and Rousseau among others have influenced educational curricula in different countries. These approaches have contributed to the development of ideas of teaching and learning that have seen a movement from the traditional approaches to teaching and learning, which were teacher-centred to child-centred approaches to teaching and learning. There have been concerns on the performance of students in Mathematics as a subject. The low performance in this subject can be attributed to many factors. Some of the factors have to do with the perception that Mathematics is a very difficult subject, resulting in students developing negative attitudes towards it. The other factors are related to how children are introduced to Mathematics at an early age. The way children are exposed to Mathematics concepts at ECD and Primary school has a bearing on how they handle Mathematics as a subject in later years. This paper focuses on how we can promote a balanced Mathematics instruction at Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Primary school levels. It examines characteristics of a balanced mathematics instruction, the ECD Mathematics curriculum in Zimbabwe, the application of the child-centred approach in the teaching of Mathematics and the theories guiding the teaching of Mathematics. The paper concludes by advocating for a teaching approach that considers the children s interests.