SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TSST

As many teachers did, on 6th July, our Primary team sat exploring the new guidancepublished by DfE. Literally the week before, in our various Maths Hubs forums, the tools had been unveiled to us as ‘coming soon’ and all we could think about is ‘What can we do to help teachers to find their way through this’?

 Publishing in the last weeks of term was not ideal, but most definitely better than a summer holiday publication, lost online! Or a September publication, when we have just planned out what we think is the best re-introduction to maths for many children who have had a lengthy period of homeschooling.

The guidance is not just a lengthy word document, or 7 of them if you look at them individually. Accompanying the text documents are a suite of videos to support all teachers to use the materials. These are available here.

 We know teachers had so many questions, and observations from the flurry of online talk on publication date. Whilst we did not want a knee-jerk reaction (this is not just a COVID-19 publication, this is ‘for life’), we wanted to be able to provide some support to all teachers. In 24 hours, after 1 email, 2 tweets and a Facebook post our online sessions with Dr Debbie Morgan had filled to capacity; local and not-so-local teachers who wanted to hear more about the materials, and who could also then potentially connect with their Maths Hubs. Maths Hubs most definitely will be using these materials as they support teachers in the coming year. We anticipated many more questions than actually arose in the sessions, likely because many teachers just wanted to know what the guidance was and with the wonders of virtual meetings, Debbie was able to share this with us all.

 So, what did we take from these meetings, which would be helpful to share with you all?

 The guidance is a culmination of research which started in 2014, and started to become a working document about a year ago. It is non-statutory guidance, designed to support teachers to identify two things:

1. the key skills and aspects of NC2014 that underpin the rest of the curriculum to bring coherence within and across year groups (Ready to Progress criteria)
2. identify and provide resources for key aspects of maths that are often misunderstood.

 This guidance is not a replacement for the National Curriculum, nor should your current long term planning be shelved in respect of this! But, as teachers we all recognise the struggle of fitting everything in, particularly where children have gaps in learning, so this guidance helps to prioritise key areas of the curriculum to aid children to progress to the next stage of learning. A key observation from the specialists who have taken part in the Shanghai exchange, and the wider discussions as part of the TRGs and showcase events is the trust in teachers who know children have ‘learnt something’ in a previous year, a contrast to my favourite cartoon, I taught my dog to whistle ...