Formulation of curricular purposes and the extent to which such purposes are realised in curricular practice have recently become prominent in related academic discourse. This paper addresses this prominence in the context of a quantitative literacy course offered at a South African tertiary institution. The purpose of the intended curriculum was studied. Students enrolled for the course were interviewed with a view to exploring their lived experiences gained whilst pursuing this course. Their responses to interviews and questionnaires were categorised into themes and were matched with certain aspects of integrative and traditional curricula. The students� experience of the purpose of the curriculum was also explored by interrogating some of their written responses to tasks designed in this research. This research showed that, despite a satisfactorily formulated statement of module purpose for the mathematical literacy course, the extent to which the envisaged purpose materialised in the attainment of curricular goals in the case considered here, was unsatisfactory. Impressions of purpose were thus found to be in complete discord with the experiences of purpose.

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