What does MEI do ?
MEI Conference 2009
Session A7
MEI’s current work
•
Create an environment in which mathematics can
flourish
•
Curriculum development
•
Industry
•
CPD
•
Further Mathematics Support Programme
An environment for mathematics
•
The views put to us by MEI members are
really important. We try to make sure they
are heard.
- MEI is a Participating Society of the JMC
- Our staff belong to many committees etc
- We publish position papers
- We contribute to many conferences
- When appropriate we lobby
Position papers
•
Level 3 Mathematics consultation papers
•
Submission to the government’s Expert
Group on Assessment
•
Possible paper on effects of 2-tier GCSE
Would you value the facility to comment on
these on-line, either in draft or in final form ?
Teaching and learning materials
Textbooks and online
Promoting mathematics
•
We do all we can to promote enthusiasm for
mathematics
- Enhancement & enrichment activities
•
Revision Guides
•
Companion to Advanced Mathematics and Statistics
•
Existing GCSE resources
•
Planned GCSE resources
•
Statistics posters
- Working with Phillip Allan Updates
- Supporting others promoting mathematics
A change of culture is taking place
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Industry
•
Much of MEI’s work in the industry strand is
still at the aspirational or developmental stage
•
It will involve working with
- New courses, eg diplomas
- Existing vocational courses
- Other organisations, eg the IET
- Companies
CPD
•
- Teaching Advanced Mathematics (TAM)
- 2-day courses
- School/college visits
CPD through the FMSP
•
•
CPD will be a major element of the FMSP
MEI will be working in partnership with the
NCETM
- Teaching Further Mathematics (TAM)
- Teaching Diploma Mathematics (to be
developed)
- Embedding in practice
TAM
“The TAM course gave me the confidence
and preparation I needed to get into A Level
teaching and I haven’t looked back …”
•
Soon to be available in South Africa
•
Now seeking national roll-out in UK
•
Read the report “A Gateway to Teaching
Advanced Mathematics”
•
MEI runs 2-day courses on various strands;
the days are typically separated by about 6
weeks
•
MEI staff are national experts in Live Online
Professional Development (LOPD) using
Elluminate
•
MEI also provides professional development
in conjunction with Philip Allan Updates
Teaching Further Mathematics
“I have found the whole course excellent,
interesting and helpful. It has been well
organised and all tutors and administrators
have been exceptionally good”
•
TFM covers almost all the pure mathematics
in the various specifications
•
Can now lead to Masters level credits
MEI is a major provider of CPD
Other CPD courses
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The Further Mathematics Support Programme
• The Further Mathematics Network comes to an
end this summer
• MEI will run the new Further Mathematics
Support Programme
• A wider remit includes CPD, diplomas and
marketing
2 GCSEs
Applications of Mathematics
&
Methods in Mathematics
• A pilot involving up to 300 schools and colleges will
begin in 2010
• MEI and Manchester Metropolitan University have a
project which will produce a VLE of suitable teaching
materials, and CPD
• What will be the critical factors affecting whether you
do or do not join the pilot ?
Pedagogy for the 2 GCSEs
2-tier GCSE
• What are your experiences of students coming
through from the 2-tier GCSE ?
• How are they finding the transition to AS and
A Level ?
• If you teach such students, please fill in our
questionnaire. Even if your view is that there is
no change, that is important information.
Concerns about the 2 GCSEs
• Our concerns are:
- the protracted introduction time
- excessive attention from the authorities to
assessment at the expense of improved learning
by students
• There is in fact a well thought through
underlying philosophy
The proposed changes to A Level
Is 2012 a sensible time for changes to A Level ?
• The design allows (but does not require) the use of a
teaching approach based on Realistic Mathematics
Education (RME)
• This is a highly researched pedagogy in which students
build up their mental images through carefully
constructed sequences of context-based examples, and
then generalise into the underlying theory
• MEI would like to see the ideas underpinning RME in
widespread use across all age ranges
• GCSE is changing in 2010 and its effects will still be
unknown. Current Year 8 students would be guinea
pigs at both GCSE and A Level.
• There is to be a general review of qualifications in 2013
• Uptake for both Mathematics and Further
Mathematics is increasing spectacularly
3
Main features of QCA proposal
A complex mechanism
•
Complete separation of Mathematics and Further
Mathematics
•
Mathematics to have 4 units, FM 6 units
•
Total loss of choice in AS/A Level Mathematics
•
Mixed applied units
This would not be a small change
Predicted effects of QCA proposals
•
Further Mathematics uptake
Reduction in uptake and retention of A Level
Mathematics
• Loss of flexibility for schools
•
Reduction in uptake of Further Mathematics
• Loss of attractiveness to students
•
Loss of quality in the mathematics learnt
•
Destruction of applied mathematics
Mathematics: uptake and retention
• Changing from 6 modules to 4 makes the subject less
accessible
• The loss of the January C1 sitting takes out the early
warning system
• Removing choice makes it less attractive to a diversity
of students
• The Further Mathematics effect
The recent upsurge in Further Mathematics would be lost
Applied Mathematics
• In QCA’s proposal (Model A), there will be one
Applied Mathematics AS unit and one A2 unit. Each of
these units will include topics from all mechanics,
statistics and decision mathematics
The AS unit has linear programming, motion, forces,
statistical measures, probability
• These topics will be stand-alone with no connections
between them. Inevitably the examination would have
one question on each.
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Mechanics in Further Mathematics
Mechanics content
Year 12 AS unit
Year 13 A2 unit
Motion
Newton’s Laws
Forces
Projectiles
• At AS, you can’t make the connection between motion
and forces because Newton’s Laws are A2
• Students would learn fragments not principles
• This material is currently part, but not all, of the MEI
Mechanics 1, an AS unit
• What mechanics do you learn in AS Further
Mathematics (to be studied in Year 12) ?
• You cannot do anything depending on Newton’s Laws
because they are in the A2 unit
• Syllabus designers would end up looking for scraps
that did not require the use of principles
The design is fundamentally flawed
• This would be all the Mechanics you could do in A
Level Mathematics
Contrast with present syllabus
• The units Mechanics 1, 2, 3 and 4 plot a coherent path
through the subject
• Mechanics 1 may contribute to either Mathematics or
AS Further Mathematics
• This requires the same unit structure for Mathematics
and Further Mathematics
This design works well
Gambling your house away
• QCA are proposing to force fundamental changes on
all mathematics syllabuses without any trialling and
against massive expert advice
• A disaster even greater than the one that followed the
introduction of Curriculum 2000 seems likely
Unfounded claims
• QCA’s proposal is based on bureaucratic concerns – to
make Mathematics and Further Mathematics like other
subjects
- Numbers of units, AS/A2 balance, A* award
• It is justified (?) by some spurious claims as to its
benefits
- Links between pure and applied content
- Emphasis on proof
- Stretch and challenge
- Modelling and problem solving
Looking ahead
Some major threats and some opportunities
Be prepared to stand up for what you believe in
Whatever your views, please complete the consultation
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