Teach-Secondary-Issue-14.5

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has written to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, expressing concern at the current state of maths education across the UK (see tinyurl.com/ts145-LL2 ). The letter followed an evidence session, at which the Committee heard from a range of maths education experts, consultants and advocates regarding the challenges that are currently being faced by maths educators. A recurring talking point among witnesses was that the continuing focus on securing Grade 4maths passes at GCSE, allied to annual grade boundary adjustments, resulted in 30%of students being unable to obtain grade 4s inmaths each year, even after taking resits. In its letter, the Committee raises the idea of introducing a new ‘functional mathematics’ qualification, which would allow both school leavers and adult learners to demonstrate their application of practical numeracy skills relevant to daily life. One possible approach to this would see the existing GCSE curriculum split into ‘functional mathematics’ on one side, and amore abstract ‘pure mathematics’ component on the other, the latter of which students would require for further study. The evidence session also saw discussion of how targets for recruitingmaths teachers have been consistentlymissed for more than a decade, despite previous government offers of generous bursaries. Potential solutions to this suggested by witnesses included expanding access to CPD, offering more flexible working arrangements, recruiting from a wider pool of graduates and post-graduates, and adopting transitional training programmes that would enable teachers in other subjects to become maths specialists. The evidence session can be viewed in full via tinyurl.com/ ts145-LL3 TRENDING Our pick of the recent resources and launches teachers might find useful... FORWARDTHINKING Samsung’s ‘Solve forTomorrow Next Gen’ learning programme for 11 to 15-year-olds is back for its fifthyear, once again hoping to inspire the next generation of innovators.On offer are interactive video lessons, online safety and careers resources, and a fun, easy-to-enter design challenge (the closing date for whichwill beJuly25th 2025). samsung.com/ solvefortomorrow PASS ITON Insurance broker and Premiership Rugby sponsor Gallagher has announced the launch of the GallagherTouchline Academy – a free rugby teacher training programme aimed at state schools in England. Participantswill get to attend an in-person training session at a Gallagher Premiership Rugby club, afterwhich they’ll receive a six-week lesson plan to help themdeliver rugby sessions at their school. tinyurl.com/ts145-LL4 The problem with maths education Under the radar Got a great learning idea? Email editor@teachsecondary.com or tweet us at @teachsecondary 1 MINUTE STUDENT CPD ZEPH BENNETT IS A PE TEACHER AND SCHOOLACHIEVEMENT LEADERWITH 25 YEARS’ TEACHING EXPERIENCE; YOU CAN FINDMORE OF HIS EDUCATIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY FOLLOWING@ZEPHBENNETT.BSKY.SOCIAL 5WAYS TOADAPTYOUR TEACHING ZEPH BENNETT HIGHLIGHTS SOME FURTHER CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTING STUDENTS WITH DIFFERING NEEDS 1 COLLABORATING Facilitating peer or collaboration work lets students experience different perspectives and receive support when defining concepts 2 CHUNKING Everyone benefits from breaking down content intomanageable chunks; complex tasks will require careful processes that reveal the concept gradually, to ensure students are getting it 3 REVISITING Activating prior knowledge at the start of the lesson can help determine the lesson’s narrative; it can also help to use a ‘KWL’ chart (what I know , what I want to know and what I’ve learnt ) at the end of the lesson 4 VISUALISING Visual tools, like graphic organizers and infographics, can help present new information in ways that foreground relationships between concepts (e.g. a pie chart showing percentages via differently-sized segments) 5 SCAFFOLDING Provide students with an initial starting point from which to develop their answers, by presenting themwith sentence starters that lead tomore in-depth questions 79 teachwire.net/secondary L E A R N I N G L A B