Representatives from England’s three main exam boards share their thoughts with us on the questions they set, how students (and questions!) performed, what they learned from social media and much more.

Show notes:

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Andrew Taylor (AQA)

An interview with a teacher who’s taught Core Maths since its launch in 2014, and who now has a national role shaping professional development for the growing numbers of teachers following in his footsteps.

Show notes:  Taking part in the discussion are:

• Tom Rainbow, Maths teacher, Ivybridge Community College, Devon, and Core Maths Professional Development Lead for the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP).

• At time of writing, the Further Mathematics Support Programme website remains operational, but preparations are underway for the launch of the new Advanced Mathematics Support Programme website, which will carry information about Core Maths support from the AMSP.

Listen to three secondary maths teachers discuss the best CPD they have taken part in. What really works and why, and how do they think CPD can contribute to career progression?

Show notes

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Kathryn Darwin (@arithmaticks), Second in Mathematics Faculty at The Mirfield Free Grammar in Mirfield, West Yorkshire

The Mirfield Free Grammar is an 11-18 non-selective comprehensive school of approximately 1,500 students. Ridgewood School is an 11-18 non-selective comprehensive school of approximately 1,400 students.

Find out more about the CPD opportunities on offer for you and your colleagues, including secondary teaching for mastery 2018-19, through the Maths Hubs.

A discussion with the head of a Birmingham primary school, in an area of educational under-achievement, which, working closely with its local Maths Hub, embraced teaching for mastery in 2016.

Show notes:  Taking part in the discussion are:

• Helen Hastilow, headteacher of Slade Primary School in Birmingham

Find out how your school could work on teaching for mastery within the Maths Hubs programme here. The Maths Hub serving Birmingham is Central Maths Hub.

A discussion with the two lead editors of the PD materials, to help teachers and schools implement a teaching for mastery approach, being produced by the NCETM and Maths Hubs.

Show notes:  Taking part in the discussion are:

• Debbie Morgan, NCETM Director for Primary

The mastery professional development materials at the centre of this discussion can be found here on the NCETM website. Background information about the NCETM’s work in the area of teaching for mastery can be found here. You may also be interested in the primary maths mastery assessment materials, also produced by NCETM working with teachers in Maths Hubs.

A discussion with two maths teachers, both heavily involved in the Maths Hubs project that is introducing teaching for mastery to secondary schools.

Show notes:  Taking part in the discussion are:

• Frances Carr, Surrey Plus Maths Hub Lead, and a member of the national Maths Hub team coordinating the secondary school teaching for mastery project

Find out how the programme has changed the classroom practice of some of Simon’s colleagues here.

If you’d like to apply to become a secondary Mastery Specialist, find out how here.

Read about other Maths Hubs work in the secondary phase in the NCETM’s Secondary magazine.

Related Twitter handles

• @surreyplusmaths (Surrey Plus Maths Hub)

A discussion where five teachers describe books—new and old—that have helped in their maths teaching.

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Martyn Yeo (@martynyeouk), primary maths teacher at an infants school in Nuneaton,

The books mentioned (some only fleetingly) in this podcast are:

Making Numbers, Rose Griffiths, Jenni Back and Sue Gifford

Making Every Lesson Count, Andy Tharby and Shaun Allison

How I Wish I’d Taught Maths, Craig Barton

Yes, but Why, Ed Southall

When the Adults Change, Everything Changes, Paul Dix

Seven Myths of Education, Daisy Christodoulou

Why Don’t Students Like School, Daniel T. Willingham

Practising Mathematics, ATM

Mathematical Mindsets, Jo Boaler

Memorable Teaching, Peps Mccrea

The Numberverse, Andrew Day

Starting Points, Banwell, Saunders and Tahta

Learning and Doing Mathematics, John Mason

Alex’s Adventures in Numberland, Alex Bellos

The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday

Most of these, and many more, were also mentioned on the NCETM Twitter chat (#mathscpdchat) in January 2018. You can read the full record of that discussion here.

Craig Barton also hosts a podcast centred on Maths teaching (in fact, if we’re honest, it provided inspiration for the NCETM podcast!)

A discussion around how learning about fractions builds across the four transition years from KS2 to KS3, set in a context of a Maths Hubs national project looking at continuity of maths learning generally from Year 5 to Year 8. 

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Nicki Ashton, primary maths consultant in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and also leading a Work Group for the London South West Maths Hub.

You can find articles on the same theme as this podcast in two NCETM publications: Robert Wilne wrote about continuity in learning about subtraction in the January 2018 Primary Magazine. The January issue of the Maths Hubs newsletter, Bespoke, featured a breakdown of what incremental fractions learning might look like from Year 5 to Year 8.

How an English primary teacher had his maths lesson observed while in Shanghai, and how this style of group lesson observation and refinement is becoming (partially) replicated in Maths Hubs work in England.

Show notes:

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Jonathan Leeming, Mastery Specialist and primary school teacher in Lancaster. Read his account in the NCETM Primary magazine of being observed in Shanghai.

In mid-January, 2018 the second wave of primary teachers from Shanghai arrive in England as part of the ongoing England-China exchange programme. They will spend two weeks teaching maths to primary school classes in Maths Hubs areas across England, including ‘showcase’ lessons where observation seating for up to 100 teachers is organised. Contact your local Maths Hub to find out if there’s a showcase near you in the week beginning Monday 22 January.

What did the exam boards learn when they marked papers taken by around 600 000 Year 11 students in the summer? And how can this help teachers prepare students for next summer?

Show notes:

Taking part in the discussion are:

• Andrew Taylor (AQA)

See the NCETM’s Qualifications and Curriculum section for regular updates and news in the area of all exams and curriculum area. And this recent edition of the NCETM’s Secondary magazine for an in-depth article on addressing the reasoning and problem-solving demands in the new GCSE.

The NCETM Maths podcast is produced by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), which is funded by the Department for Education to support all those teaching maths, to all age-groups, in schools and colleges in England, and those who provide and lead professional development activities for those teachers. This support is principally channelled through the Maths Hubs programme, which the NCETM leads, a central element of which is the Teaching for Mastery programme.

www.ncetm.org.uk