Welcome to our Newsletter for October. We’ve published a new report on the first four years of the Maths Hubs Primary Teaching for Mastery Programme.

Also this month:

• Three new podcast episodes
• Conferences for anyone in secondary maths teacher training
• Retirement of the Deputy Director of the NCETM
• In brief.

Primary teaching for mastery report: five thousand schools engaging

We have published a report into the progress and impact of the Teaching for Mastery Programme in primary schools since it began in 2015. By the end of the 2018/19 school year, more than 5,000 schools had participated in the programme—a figure due to rise to over 8,000 by summer 2020.

The report, based on work by a team comprising university researchers, independent mathematics consultants and teachers working inside the Maths Hubs Programme, indicates that the programme is having a positive impact at a number of levels.

The report’s summary says:

Teachers are becoming more knowledgeable about, and skilled at, their craft; classroom practice is changing in ways designed to help pupils develop deeper understanding; and there are also encouraging signs that pupils are learning maths more securely.

Evidence is also quoted from Ofsted reports where inspections of schools in the programme noted particular strengths in teacher subject knowledge and pupil performance in lessons.

Three new podcast episodes

Since last month’s newsletter, three new podcast episodes have hit the airwaves. One hears from the authors of the Secondary Mastery Professional Development Materials; another features teachers from schools where teaching for mastery is being successfully implemented in mixed-age classes; and the most recent brings the three exam boards together to discuss last summer’s GCSE and A level exams.

Two NCETM secondary ITE tutors’ conferences now booking

If you’re involved in secondary Initial Teacher Education (ITE), you’re invited to come to one of our free conferences and find out more about teaching for mastery – the pedagogy, and how Maths Hubs projects are supporting secondary schools to introduce the approach.

You’ll hear from teachers involved in mastery projects, consider ways to engage student teachers in mastery approaches and have the opportunity to share practice and ideas.

The conferences are being held on 18 November in Manchester, and 14 January 2020 in London, and you can book your free place online.

NCETM’s Deputy Director, Jane Imrie, retires

The NCETM’s Deputy Director, Jane Imrie, who has been with the organisation since its launch in 2006, and closely involved with maths education for her entire working life, has announced that she is to retire at the end of this month. We wish her a long and well-deserved retirement!

In brief

• Advice and support materials for Year 11 students wondering what maths they might do after GCSE is now available from our partners at the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP).
• The Royal Institution is again offering grants of £500 for schools to experience a science, technology, engineering or mathematics activity selected from the STEM Directory. You can apply online before midnight on 4 November.
• Maths Week England is coming next month, 11-16 November, with the aim of raising the profile of mathematics across England. It includes a number of competitions, a quiz running through the week, and the Maths Week England website also offers a number of resources for primary and secondary schools.
• NRICH is running Solving Together, a pilot project aimed at Year 7 classes to promote parental engagement with maths. The project will provide six interactive online homework tasks for parents and students to work on together. The project starts after the half-term break, and you can register your interest via this short form.
• A level teachers: are your students taking part in MEI’s Ritangle competition? Teams work on 25 questions in total, starting with weekly warm-up questions, increasing to one question per day, with the aim of being the first team to submit a perfect solution to the last question. The first two warm-up questions are already out, but it’s not too late to get involved. Register your team on the brief form at the bottom of the Ritangle homepage to see the first two questions and take part.
• Cambridge Maths is using a crowd-sourcing tool, called Define It, to collect information from teachers across the globe about definitions of mathematical words. They want to know what makes a successful definition for learners of maths at different levels of expertise. To share what mathematical words you use for which audiences, sign up!

Please do contact us if you have any comments on this newsletter.

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