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Writer’s Blog


Numeracy book raises familiar issues but points about schools don’t add up so well for FE sector


40p each or 2 for £1: Making maths memorable, accessible and relevant By Danielle Bartram Crown House Publishing: paperback, 192 pages


Bartram’s book aims to provide strategies and resources to support cross-curricular numeracy in secondary schools, but how much is transferable to the post-16 sector? Bartram certainly raises several familiar issues – for example, negative attitudes towards maths and lack of perceived relevance – and she provides some help on these. Her main focus is promoting maths through a whole-school


approach. Beginning by engaging staff and maths audits in different subjects, she goes on to provide a set of 31 generic activities across the academic curriculum. All are downloadable from Bartram’s website. She makes important strategic points, such as the role of leadership,


providing adequate CPD, and making time for staff to collaborate. Bartram also mentions some strategies for non-specialist teachers – use of estimation and mental maths, and ‘chunking’ problems. However, it is in the resources (most of the book) where the gap


between school and further education and training emerges. Schools lack the rich vocational contexts found in FE and training and, although referred to, Bartram provides few examples of maths being genuinely integrated into other lessons. Nevertheless, there are activities which will be of interest to FE teachers – particularly those that relate to learners organising ideas (Venn diagrams and graphic organisers) and using mathematical concepts for classroom management. The book may provide (or reinforce) some key ideas, strategies and


approaches for FE practitioners. Now all we need is a similar book aimed at the FE sector!


Reviewer: Steve Pardoe is a maths specialist and ITT tutor, and is the ETF’s regional maths coordinator in the West Midlands.


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are eligible for 20 er cent off te  or ts boo and other Crown ose blsn titles on this page when ordering from the Crown ose ebste Use discount code InTuition20 en rote e offer s valid until 31 eceber, 


By Dr Richard Churches There is considerable potential for teacher-led randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to advance the science of learning.


Although there has been a growth


in teacher-led research in general, the types of methods adopted by teachers (predominantly qualitative and uncontrolled forms of action research) will never be enough on their own to give teachers the levels of agency enjoyed by their cousins in the medical profession. RCTs (considered the ‘gold standard’


in medical research) introduce a control group in order to remove biases. Churches, Higgins and Hall (2017) demonstrated how engagement in the design and delivery of an RCT improves teacher evidence-based behaviours. We know that putting research and


evidence front and centre of what it means to be a medical practitioner gives doctors and healthcare workers a deep and profound sense of voice and agency when it comes to their professional identity. Perhaps, given time and the right


expertise, teachers could achieve the same.


Dr Richard Churches has been an advanced skills teacher, senior manager in inner-city schools, government adviser, education consultant and lead adviser for education reform and evidence-based practice at the caton eeloent rst


PUBLICATIONS


2. Dare to be Different. A leadership fable about transformational change in schools By Will Ryan Crown House Publishing: paperback, 224 pages In stark contrast to the style of Leadership Dialogues II le, this textbook reads more like a novel, if only because it is, essentall, a noel The lead character is


primary school head teacher, Brian Smith, whose encounters with politics, red tape and educational fads lead him not so much to rage against the machine but to stosl nore t The subversive element is so thoughtfully done here that ts eas to oret tat an s effectel encoran te teaching profession to wrest back control of education from


te elers ts ll o wit, wisdom and practical ace ts abot a rar school head, but anyone in education will enjoy the caractersatons n srel the Daily Mail has never featured so prominently n an boo on ecaton


The Crown House publishing offer above is applicable to both Leadership Dialogues II and Dare to be Different.


• Churches R, Higgins S and Hall R (2017). The potential of teacher- led randomised controlled trials in education research. In: Childs A and Menter I (eds) Mobilising Teachers Researchers. Routledge, pp.113–140.


• Churches, R and Dommett, E (2016). Teacher-Led Research: Designing and Implementing Randomised Controlled Trials and Other Forms of Experimental Research. Crown House Publishing.


• Churches, R, Dommett, E and Devonshire, I (2017). Neuroscience for Teachers: Applying research evidence from brain science. Crown House Publishing.


INTUITION ISSUE 31 • SPRING 2018 33


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