The establishment of the Centres for Excellence in Maths (CfEM) resource hub on the ETF website in October 2022 felt like an important staging point in creating a legacy for the programme. The beginning of the end for this activity, it signalled a switch from focusing on new activity to gathering learning into a place where it begins to concentrate on the legacy it will create for post-16 maths teaching.
By the end of March 2023, by when the resource will be fully populated, its content will be broad and offer something for everyone from teachers to curriculum managers and those with a policy-level interest in the discipline. We hope it will become a springboard for improvements in maths teaching and learning across our sector.
But in order to begin to understand the potential impact of CfEM, before the resource nears completion, we sought the views of those leading the activity – the leads at the Centres – in November 2022, as they gathered for one of the project’s Forum meetings.
Their responses were interesting, and for those of us who have led on this work, deeply gratifying. One described CfEM as the “…most useful platform ever for maths teachers to make a difference” which is lofty praise indeed.
To understand the popularity of CfEM amongst participants, we had to dig a little deeper to investigate what about the CfEM experience they had particularly valued. A wide range of factors were cited, but they fall into a handful of broad categories.
In a sector where team working and mutual support are a natural and highly-regarded feature of our culture, it was no surprise to us that collaboration emerged as a key theme in our feedback. A respondent from Fareham College nominated the power of effective collaboration as the “…true value and impact of CfEM”. That view was echoed by Warwickshire College Group, who said that CfEM had enabled it to collaborate with other colleges to develop new and exciting research and learn from one another. Importantly, from the perspective of legacy, they also said that they believed that the networks CfEM has created will be sustained in the future and continue the work done in the last five years.
The next theme came as little surprise either; time pressure is a factor for everyone who works in the FE and Training sector and that was underlined by those who fed back to us, with a particular emphasis on the benefit of having the time to research and better understand learners’ needs and teachers’ potential to satisfy them. The “…time and space to read research and plan how to use it in everyday teaching”, “…the time to be able to dig deep into the world of FE learners”, and “…the time to experiment with new approaches and to reflect collaboratively” were cited by colleagues at Newham College, Weston College and Leyton Sixth Form College respectively.
Many participants highlighted the opportunity to try different approaches to maths as one of the most beneficial, and enjoyable, aspects of CfEM. We’ve received feedback that participants have felt empowered to simplify maths and make it more accessible for most learners, that modelling has enabled the simplification of teaching and that learning how to use concrete and pictorial elements to support learners has changed teaching. And we’ve heard praise for maths mastery – that it is “…current and relevant…” to students’ learning needs, that having the support to try out mastery approaches has had a “…very positive…” impact on teaching, and that CfEM had taught one participant “…not to discount using maths mastery techniques with post-16 students.”
Another key aspect of the programme – action research – also proved popular; in the words of a participant from Stamford College, “The action research was the key to it all!” That view was reflected in the feedback of colleagues at other providers who cited the opportunity to undertake “…really interesting research on student motivation and engagement” and “…the time to experiment with new approaches and to reflect collaboratively” as being amongst the most valuable aspects of their participation.
As I explained at the start of this piece, though, at this point in the programme our thoughts are concentrated as much on legacy as they are on the experience of participation. One participant proclaiming that “I feel privileged to have been involved and feel this is ‘just the beginning’” was music to our ears.
Other comments echoed that sentiment – we were told that CfEM had been the most fun CPD a respondent had ever been involved in, and by another that they developed a training session through the programme that “…encompasses FE maths mastery and is practical, tactile and fosters fun, communication and excitement.” That session had “…received exceptional feedback from our maths team, vocational teams and our network partners. We want to inspire our learners.”
And that of course is the point. We wanted participants to enjoy and be inspired by the programme, and we were clear from the start that there should be a legacy that contributes to more effective teaching and learning. As with all ETF activity, outcomes for learners at the heart of everything the CfEM programme has done; it’s about supporting the teachers, trainers and leaders we work with to do the best for their students.
The feedback we have received from CfEM participants suggests we have already come a long way on the road to achieving that. The next steps for us are the addition of more resources to the legacy hub on the ETF website. I encourage you to visit regularly to keep up to date with what’s available and harness the project’s ideas, learning and enthusiasm in your own work.
Boryana Smilenova
Project Officer (Centres for Excellence in Maths), Education and Training Foundation