MATHEMATICS


Are we teaching maths for the modern world?


Sal McKeown asks if what and how we teach in maths should


better reflect the challenges we face and better support pupils with dyscalculia


Union address: NASUWT Under surveillance


Chris Keates says that lesson observations


are being used in a debilitating way – and fears that things are only going to get worse


THERE IS increasingly disturbing evidence about the professionally debilitating practices being adopted by many schools to observe teachers. Lesson observation is being used every day in a


manner which undermines the professionalism of teachers and does nothing to raise standards. Evidence shows that it is the quality of observation,


not the quantity, which enhances teaching and learning. Teachers are being told what to teach, when to teach and how to teach, often by those who have not taught for years. Teachers are facing an army of adults in the


back of the classroom. They are observed through CCTV and two-way mirrors. Children and teachers are diminished and abused by the use of pupils as management tools to carry out surveillance on their teachers. Schools are being run like totalitarian regimes where children are being actively recruited to spy and report on adults. Older teachers, teachers with disabilities and


Black or minority ethnic teachers are facing disproportionate observations and report feeling that this is to put pressure on them to drive them out of the job. An NASUWT survey involving 13,000 teachers found that well over half felt that observation was to check on them in a negative way, rather than to support and enhance teaching and learning. What is taking place is not supportive,


developmental, professional classroom observation, even when it is described as drop-in, a walk-in, a learning walk or pupil tracking or any of the myriad of names that schools invent, it is purely and simply punitive monitoring and surveillance. Teachers welcome focused and proportionate approaches to lesson observation as they have


an important role to play in strategies for school improvement, if they provide genuine support to the professional practice of teachers and aid effective teaching and learning. The performance management regulations,


introduced in 2007, provide for a limit on classroom observations, and ensure that such observations have a clear focus and provide professional feedback. These performance management arrangements


also ensure that observations are undertaken in partnership with teachers, promoting a supportive and developmental framework to reflect and build on their practice. An evaluation of the 2007 performance


management framework by the National Foundation for Educational Research show that it is delivering important benefits, not only for the identification of teachers’ CPD needs, but also to aid school improvement. As a result, teachers and schools are reporting that these reforms had started to secure tangible improvements to the quality of learning. Yet despite this evidence, the government decided to repeal the regulations and now plans to replace them in September 2012 with new ones which remove all of these elements of effective practice. This failure to afford classroom teachers


professional respect and support has been the hallmark of much of the school workforce and education policy in the last two years. The cumulative effect of negative policies is taking


a heavy toll on the profession. A survey in March of more than 16,000 teachers found that two-thirds feel they are not managed in a way which enables them to deliver the best outcomes for pupils, 60 per cent feel their professional judgement is not respected, and half feel their views are neither sought or listened to. Is it therefore any surprise that the survey also revealed that over half of teachers have considered leaving the profession in the last year? Never has there been a more important time to


defend statutory provisions which enhance teachers’ professionalism and enable them to work effectively to raise standards. The limit on classroom observation is just one of these important provisions that teachers must defend. The NASUWT is taking industrial action short of strike action which is defending critical professional entitlements and empowering teachers to reclaim their professionalism and their classrooms.


• Chris Keates is the general secretary of the NASUWT. Visit www.nasuwt.org.uk


R


upert is 12. He has dyslexia and dyspraxia and problems with numbers. He still does not know his tables but neither does his brother or his father so it seems to run in the family. The International Dyslexia


Association has suggested that 60 per cent of dyslexics have some difficulty with numbers or number relationships. His family is very keen to develop his mathematical skills as his mother Emma explained: “Rupert is a quick forgetter, rather than a slow learner. He does not retain information which is part of his problem with tables. He is interested in science and I don’t want him to miss out because of his maths.”


Dyscalculia is sometimes known as “number


blindness” and can affect children who are very able in other areas of the curriculum. Children with dyscalculia will have problems recognising and using number symbols, counting accurately and understanding place value. This can affect daily life as they struggle with


telling the time, calculating prices and handling change, as well as measuring and estimating things such as temperature and speed.


What pupils need


Sarah Wedderburn is principal of Unicorn Maths and has experience of working with young people with dyscalculia. She runs maths remediation courses for teachers,


accredited through the British Dyslexia Association (BDA). She also runs a studio where she and a specialist team work with children who need extra tuition for maths and have been referred by schools or educational psychologists. She has three key principles for teachers in


secondary education: • Check to see that the child has a strong mathematical foundation, and if not intervene.


• Use concrete materials for introducing new concepts.


• Revisit topics to develop full understanding and retention. She explained: “Maths is cumulative. If a child


in secondary is not confident with the basics such as place value, they won’t understand decimals. If they don’t understand basic decimals this will affect their understanding of money, measurements and weights. “Secondary schools are reluctant to go back to


using concrete materials. Perhaps they don’t have them or feel that they are not appropriate for older learners. However, money is very good for place value, sets and equivalence and is very concrete.” The national curriculum also makes it hard for


teachers to find the necessary time for revisiting and overlearning. Once a topic has been finished, a teacher might come back several months later, do a brief recap and then move on. Ms Wedderburn added: “That does not work


for young people with dyscalculia. They do not retain information easily so things do not become automatic to them as fast as they do for other children. They need lots of time and practice to make it stick.”


Real-life maths


To build confidence and improve skills, schools may need to focus more on real-life maths. So much of the mathematical curriculum is based on the kind of maths needed some 50 years ago. Fractions were essential in the days of imperial


weights and measurement, when Britain was a more agricultural society and used pre-decimal currency. Then a quarter of an inch, furlongs (1/8th mile) and 1/2lb were meaningful and not just something for the mathematics classroom. Pupils would have had their fraction learning reinforced daily by real-life examples. Now we are a decimal and are essentially a


consumer society but the maths curriculum does not necessarily reflect the changes in the world. Martin Lewis, from the website Money Saving


Expert, has campaigned long and hard for compulsory financial education in schools and his persistence seems to be paying off. There is now an all All-Party Parliamentary Group


(APPG) on Financial Education for Young People which has identified that one in four economically active adults is functionally innumerate. They want the government to promote the


provision of high quality financial education in schools in England.


12 Scandals over payment protection and bank


charges have highlighted the importance of maths. Helen Knapp, a reporter on the Money Saving Expert website, said: “Consumers were asked to work out the cost of an unauthorised overdraft for four different banks using a mock bank statement. Despite one of the volunteers being a maths PhD student, not one got all the calculations right.” Obviously financial literacy needs to come out


of the citizenship cupboard and become part of mainstream maths education.


Signs of change


Mathematics champion, Carol Vorderman, who recently produced a report on mathematics education, has pointed out that about half of 16-year-olds fail their GCSE maths and of those who gain a grade C, many still find it difficult to calculate percentages. She said: “It is time for the skills that everybody


needs to juggle an ever-complicated world are taught fully and properly through the maths curriculum. “At the moment, the young people who fail maths


are taught a watered down version of what the top 15 per cent need: this includes levels of trigonometry and algebra, which they will never use again, if they ever get to understand it in the first place. They need the fundamentals of arithmetic and its applications as a priority.” Tim James, a teacher at Nicholas Chamberlaine


Technology College in Bedworth, welcomes signs of change. “People need to be well informed if they are to make sense of ‘special offers’ and steer clear of debt. Things like APR are going to be essential for all of us in the future and we need to make sure the curriculum stays up-to-date. “The new GCSE specification has more emphasis


on ‘functional maths’. In a recent exam candidates had to make a decision about which holiday was cheaper using information from a brochure.” Certainly for learners with dyscalculia and those


who fail to make progress with maths, a change to more practical maths could provide opportunities for “over-learning” which experts agree is so badly needed. There perhaps needs to be more emphasis on


estimation and calculators. Many learners with dyscalculia work very slowly and may fail to spot patterns because there is such a long interval between one worked example and another. Where children take an entire lesson to do six calculations and get two of the six wrong, there is no possibility of discovering patterns. But calculators need to be backed up with


estimation skills and this can be an area of weakness for pupils with dyscalculia. Again practice and use of a calculator can increase skills and confidence. Steve Chinn, author of The Trouble with Maths,


said: “Rounding is a strategy that strengthens the skill of estimation in the sense of ‘levels’ by rounding to the nearest 10, nearest 100, nearest 1,000. It is also a good real-life skill, particularly useful for shopping.” If the mathematics curriculum does change it


will certainly benefit pupils with dyscalculia. It may also help many others in their adult life. At present it seems as if the politicians and pundits are the only ones who do not see the need to make the curriculum relevant to life in the 21st century.


SecEd


• Sal McKeown is a freelance education journalist who specialises in educational technology and SEN.


Further information


• Unicorn Maths: www.unicornmaths.com • The Trouble with Maths by Steve Chin is published by Routledge.


• Carol Vorderman’s report, A World Class Mathematics Education for All our Young People, can be found by searching for the title online.


SecEd • April 26 2012


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