mathematics matters charlie stripp director, ncetm

Mathematics Matters

Charlie Stripp Director, NCETM

What the future might look like for mathematics teaching in the UK, the main direction of policy and the core priorities, including why it is so important to build a cohort of strong practitioners in the subject.

Policy direction and curriculum changes in mathematics

Direction of policy

• There is a wide consensus that a population that is able to use mathematics effectively brings economic benefit to the country

• Policies aim to:– Improve educational achievement in mathematics– Increase participation in learning mathematics post-16– Increase public understanding of the benefits of learning

mathematics– Develop school-led professional development of teachers through

‘Teaching Schools’

Background: An International Perspective

• TIMSS PISA

• Ofqual study of senior secondary assessment

• Is the UK an Outlier?

What’s happening

• A move to school-led/market-led professional development• New National Curriculum• Raising of the leaving age• The Wolf review• New GCSEs• New A levels• New level 3 ‘Core Maths’ qualifications

School-led/market-led professional development

• Funding that was going to local authorities to provide CPD is now going directly to schools

• The government, through the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), has established a network of ‘Teaching Schools’, with responsibility to lead professional development within their school alliances, developing school-to-school support

School-led/market-led professional development

• ‘Academy chains’ are becoming established to provide school improvement services, including CPD

• Schools can also purchase CPD through other training providers• To help develop capacity in schools and training providers, the

NCETM is training 800 Mathematics Professional Development Leads to provide mathematics CPD at primary and secondary level

New National Curriculum

• The Myth: The Curriculum is largely focused on rote learning and practice

The government wishes to continue to emphasise fluency, but this should not be understood to mean “rote learning without understanding”.....conceptual understanding is clearly important and ..any emphasis on practice needs to be a part of achieving that understanding.

Stefano Pozzi, DfE, Mathematics in School, May 2013

New National Curriculum

Wolf review and the raising of the leaving age

• New requirement that all those continuing in education beyond 16 who have not gained a C or higher in GCSE Maths must continue to work towards it

• This is around 250 000 young people each year• There are huge workforce implications for schools and colleges• The NCETM has developed a ‘Post-16 GCSE Enhancement

Programme’ and is training 60 professional development leads to use the programme to train FE teachers of numeracy and functional skills mathematics to teach GCSE Mathematics

New Mathematics GCSEs

• Much content from the KS3 PoS is explicit in the new GCSE content• Particular focus on ‘Ratio, proportion and rates of change–

‘Multiplicative Reasoning’ • Clear emphasis on the NC aims• Double-counted in accountability measures• Structure(?) and grading


• There is some extra content (introduction to vectors and to conditional probability)

• The main increases arise from – making a large amount of KS3 work more explicit, – a greater focus on reasoning and problem solving in the

Assessment Objectives– the need to know more mathematical formulae


"The new mathematics GCSE will be more demanding and we anticipate that schools will want to increase the time spent teaching mathematics”

Michael Gove, November 2013

(The DfE cites Singapore and Australia, who teach an average of 143 and 138 hours of maths per year, respectively – UK is 116 hours per year)

New A levels in Mathematics and Further Mathematics

• Numbers of students taking A level Mathematics and Further Mathematics have risen strongly in recent years

• The Further Mathematics Support Programme has done much to support these increases and the DfE has just confirmed a further 3 years’ funding for the FMSP

• New Mathematics A levels will be introduced for first teaching from September 2016 (a year later than most other A levels)

• The structure of the Mathematics A levels will change from a modular structure to a more linear one

New level 3 ‘Core Maths’ qualifications

• Low UK participation in post-16 Maths• ‘Gap’ in maths qualifications beyond GCSE for non-specialists

‘Issue 3: Different levels of demand within mathematics – The number of different mathematics assessments at a variety of levels available to students in many education systems was also in contrast to A level Mathematics. Is there a need for A level Mathematics to have further lower-level options in addition to AS?’

Ofqual: International Comparisions in Senior Secondary Assessment, 2012


• At present:– 36 per cent of students do not achieve a grade C or better at GCSE;– 37 per cent achieve a grade C or better at GCSE but cease studying

maths

• 330,000 students start courses at Higher Education that require some element of post-16 mathematics, yet only 125,000 study mathematics from 16-18 [Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, ‘Mathematical Needs’, 2011’].


• Students who gained a GCSE (specific grades) at Key Stage 4 who did not continue with maths during their 16-18 education (2011/2012 data):

– GCSE grade A/A* 29% 29,726– GCSE B 67% 67,555– GCSE C 76% 120,064

• Overall 60 per cent of students with a C or above at GCSE do not continue with maths. (217,300 out of a total of 360,100 with a grade C or above at Key Stage 4 in 2010).

The current position: 16-19 year olds in full-time education


• Core Maths qualifications will be designed to be suitable for students studying a range of post-16 programmes, including academic and vocational studies

• Core maths qualifications will not be compulsory but it is hoped that study of maths to be seen increasingly as the norm for students within their 16-18 education


• The DfE has just announced a ‘Core Maths Support Programme’, to work with schools and colleges to establish effective ways to support the new qualifications

• New qualifications are being developed by the awarding bodies – expected to be 2/3 the size of an AS and studied over 2 years

Post-16 Mathematics Pathways

• For those who have not achieved a grade C or above in GCSE Mathematics: A programme working towards this goal

• For those with GCSE grade C or above in GCSE Mathematics who do not intend to specialise in a mathematical discipline: Core Maths

• For those with GCSE grade C or above intend to specialise in a mathematical discipline, or who particularly enjoy maths: AS/A level Mathematics and, possibly AS/A level Further Mathematics

A vision for the future of mathematics teaching and how we might get there

A vision for the future

All teachers of mathematics•have strong subject knowledge, appropriate to the level at which they teach•have strong pedagogical knowledge, appropriate to the level at which they teach (including use of technology)•can put their knowledge to good effect in their teaching•enjoy the status of highly skilled professionals, playing a vital role in society

A vision for the future

All teachers of mathematics•have access to high-quality CPD•develop and share their expertise throughout their careers•work within a career structure that rewards good subject teaching•are inspired by mathematics and able to inspire others with mathematics

How do we get there?

• Social attitudes towards mathematics must change as its vital importance to society is better understood

• Structures should be developed that allow schools, colleges, universities, subject associations and other providers of mathematics CPD to collaborate in regional hubs with the aim of improving mathematics education, coordinated nationally to share knowledge and good practice

• It should be a requirement for every primary school to employ a suitably qualified mathematics specialist teacher to lead mathematics teaching throughout the school

How do we get there?

• Providing CPD should be an integral part of the work of all successful, experienced teachers of mathematics, conferring increased status and financial reward

• A requirement to take part in CPD should be built into every teacher’s contract, including time which must be spent on CPD (equivalent to at least half-a-day per week [a day a week for the first two years])

• Core funding for CPD should be ring-fenced and set at an appropriate level

• It should be a requirement that all mathematics CPD is quality-assured through a universal standard

This vision for mathematics teaching could enable the governments’ key aims for mathematics education to be met; improving educational achievement in mathematics, increasing participation in mathematics education post-16 and improving public attitudes towards mathematics.

Trends in AS and A level Mathematics numbers

Trends in AS and A level Further Mathematics numbers

mathematics matters charlie stripp director, ncetm

Documents

mathematics slide

new mathematics nc slide

mathematics cpd

mathematics teaching

school support slide

ncetm slide

new national curriculum

learning mathematics