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:
- 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)
- 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 ...
Full details from Andrew Woods (TEP) email above.
Precision Teaching is a method of planning a teaching programme to meet the needs of an individual child or young person who is experiencing difficulty with acquiring or maintaining some skills. It has an inbuilt monitoring function and is a means of evaluating the effectiveness of what is being taught.
“I have seen pupils, with a range of special educational needs, exceed expectations when taking part in the PhD research. They made rapid progress and developed and maintained higher order skills, in tasks that were self-motivating. Precision Teaching is a new and exciting intervention that I think will be key element of teaching in the future. "
John Somers Headteacher, The Wyvern School
For further details please see click here .
Unfortunately, we have heard from the DfE that they have decided to postpone the visit of Shanghai Maths teachers to England at the end of February because of the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak in China.
The Kent & Medway Maths Hub would like to continue with the professional development opportunities for teachers and as such still plan to host events on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th March at The Kent Event Cente, Detling Showground, Maidstone.
If you have not already registered for one of these events and would like to do so, please contact Sarah Rose: sarah.rose@mtsa.co.uk
Full report below here educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/early-maths/
