BSc (Hons) Secondary
Mathematics Education with QTS*
A Guide to Starting at Edge Hill University
PRE-PROGRAMME INFORMATION
Appendix: Mathematics specialism
information
2015 entry
(* Indicates our recommendation for QTS at the end of your course. Full QTS is only
confirmed on successful completion of your first induction year in teaching)
All mathematics trainees should try to do some background reading on the teaching
of mathematics in Schools. A recommended text is Learning to Teach Mathematics in
the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience (Learning to Teach
Subjects in the Secondary School Series) by Sue Johnston-Wilder, Peter JohnstonWilder, David Pimm and Clare Lee (11 Aug 2010).
There is also a wealth of general information on training to teach that can be found on
the Teaching Agency website http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics – NCETM, have
a large number of interesting resources to support training and practising teachers.
During the course you will complete a subject knowledge audit and file for mathematics
taught up to GCSE and A level so you might find the NCETM’s self evaluation tools
useful. These are found at https://www.ncetm.org.uk under the Personal Learning tab.
If you want to brush up on GCSE mathematics topics, try looking at
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/. Inexpensive revision materials are available
from The Mathematics Co-ordination Group www.cgpbooks.co.uk. Keep any revision
work that you complete, it can be added to your subject knowledge development file.
Part of the course involves the study of mathematics at degree level. We call this
subject study. Edge Hill supports the use of technology in teaching and learning
mathematics so you will certainly need access to a scientific calculator with statistical
functions, but access to a graphical calculator is preferable. If you wish to purchase a
graphical calculator, you should remember that our current regulations do not allow
calculators that have built in computer algebra systems to be used in examinations.
You should prepare for the subject study element of the course by looking through a
readable A level text. The subject study element of the first year course covers the key
areas of pure mathematics relating to algebraic structure, matrices and complex
numbers. You will also learn about mathematical reasoning, proof and logic, and the
principles that underpin the work that you have seen around functions and graphs.
Applications of mathematics form a strand that continues throughout the course and,
in the first year involves learning about modelling with mechanics.
Ghada Nakhla
Secondary Undergraduate Mathematics Course Leader
e-mail address:
nakhlag@edgehill.ac.uk
Telephone number: 01695 657380