Findings from the Curee Research Project. Find out how support for Maths can be improved to positively impact on learning outcomes.

1. Maths Strategic Conversations:
findings from the Curee research
project
Michelle Jennings

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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
R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h

7. • 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

8. • 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

9. Mathematics

10. Mathematics

11. Mathematics