Maths Strategic Conversations: findings from the Curee research

project

Michelle Jennings

Key themes

• What are practitioners’ CPD needs?

• How do learners develop Maths skills?

• What specialist Maths knowledge and or skills do vocational practitioners need to support the contextualisation of GCSE Maths?

• What skills/knowledge will Functional Skills practitioners need in order to teach GCSE Maths?

The challenges• more readily available specialist ITT provision

• continuing CPD for existing functional skills practitioners to equip them to teach GCSE

• more readily available subject specialist CPD programmes that address the need to help teachers ensure they challenge every learner

• promoting, modelling and enabling evidence-based good practice in CPD

• the development of valid and useful real-time evaluations of staff performance and current skill levels

Recommendations• The Maths enhancement programme should be continued but

refined to address more in-depth ways of addressing learner diversity

• An English enhancement programme should also be developed

• Further probing of data should be undertaken regarding:

• the balance of access to CPD for vocational and non-vocational staff

• differences of perception between strategic/middle leaders and classroom practitioners

• Any substantive resulting differences should be explored via leadership programmes and, possibly through a national debate

POLICY

DRIVERS

THE

FOUNDATION:

SECTOR

IMPROVEMENT

IN MATHS

FUTURE OF MATHS

ENHANCEMENT

MATHS ENHANCEMENT

AND SEN

CUREE STRATEGIC

CONVERSATIONS

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

MATHS & ENGLISH

STEM

MATHS RECRUITMENT

INCENTIVE

MATHS TNA

EXCELLENCE

GATEWAY

EDUCATION

AND SKILLS

SECTOR

IMPROVEMENT

IN TEACHING

TRAINING &

LEARNING

PSWD Maths Impact Model

Research

• The 6-day Maths Enhancement Programme (MEP) is:• helpful for those teachers secure in their subject knowledge, but

• not enough for those with a weaker subject knowledge (a significant number)

• Recommendations:• A self-assessment TNA tool covering the GCSE maths syllabus

• A series of ‘pre-MEP’ workshops, modularised to specific strands of subject knowledge (e.g. Statistics / Algebra / Geometry / Trigonometry)

• Support for local peer-to-peer networks

• Building an online community of practice

• Development of a shorter / sharper model of support for GCSE maths teachers working within a more vocationally-focused / WBL environment

• Colleges and other providers have been invited to bid for money used to recruit and employ an additional maths teacher this year

• We have bids for around 150 additional teachers (more than we have money to fund)

• This project is very much HR focused – getting Providers to use imaginative ways of recruiting the additional teacher, using them, and keeping them

Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics