Developing collaborative approaches to enhance the professional development of primary mathematics teachers

This research project promoted a collaborative model of professional development between lead teachers from three schools, supported by a project coordinator and a researcher from a local university. Each lead teacher worked with their head teacher to design, lead, and evaluate an innovative, personalised, and school-based mathematics continuing professional development (CPD) programme in their school. University staff helped to facilitate project meetings across the schools and monitored impacts within each school. Professional development meetings, involving all teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) from the schools (n?=?55), were designed to encourage a whole-school approach. The project also provided structured opportunities for the lead teacher to work with colleagues in the classroom, for example, through lesson observation and/or collaborative teaching. The outcomes from this project confirmed that collaborative models of CPD, as opposed to transmission, formal training, and ‘top-down’ models, were welcomed by teachers and head teachers – some of whom reported early indications of improvements in student performance. Commenting on what constitutes the most effective forms of CPD, there was a reiteration of the importance of combining peer and external support through a collaborative process.     

Student–adult mentoring relationships: experiences from a Scottish school-based programme

Background:?This article reports on a mentoring programme which was implemented in selected Scottish secondary schools with the view to supporting students with school work, transition to further education/higher education, careers, and interpersonal skills. Mentoring students can enhance their academic, social, career and other outcomes. Mentoring relationships, when properly implemented, have been found also to yield positive results for mentors.

Purpose:?This paper is an investigation into a school-based mentoring programme which was implemented in 6 selected Scottish secondary schools. In so doing, we hope to contribute to an evolving framework for designing and implementing successful school-based mentoring.

Sample:?The sample for this study included 10 students aged between 16 and 17 years old in the second year of a broader 2-year business/education project, which aimed to promote student uptake of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers after secondary school. There were 11 mentors, who were drawn mainly from the science, health and the education sectors.

Design and method:?Methodologically, this study was qualitative interpretivist in nature. Data collection involved focus group discussion and individual semi-structured interviews.

Results:?The findings show mentee and mentor preparation, clarity of expectations, mentee–mentor matching, mentee motivation, appropriateness of meeting spaces and power relations, modes of communication including the use of social media, and the role of schools as essential conditions which influenced the quality of mentoring relationships.

Conclusion:?The findings suggest that mentoring programmes involving students in school and ‘external’ adult mentors need to consider a range of factors to achieve success when designing and implementing mentoring. This paper raises important issues for example, communication using social media, which have implications for practice in business sector and school partnerships involved in school-based mentoring.     

What Islamic school teachers want: towards developing an Islamic teacher education programme

In the 70 year history of Islamic schools in North America, there is yet to be an accredited teacher education programme to train and professionally equip Islamic school teachers with an understanding of an Islamic pedagogy. Arguably, there has been an imbalance of energy placed on curriculum development projects over the considerations of teacher training. From my experience working as a teacher trainer/education consultant for Islamic schools for the past 10 years, it is evident that the underlying assumption for many school administrators is that a State/Ministry certified teacher who is Muslim will know how to teach ‘Islamically’. The aims of this paper are to first establish some semblance of what it means to teach Islamically or, more accurately, to teach through an Islamic pedagogy. From this framework, the crux of the paper is to present findings from a series of focus groups with Islamic school educators about their teacher training needs. The findings of this study establish the need for a formal teacher education programme in Islamic pedagogy within an established faculty of education. Such a programme would achieve three major ends in cultivating the stewardship of Islamic schools in North America: 1. Define and establish Islamic education as a valid and relevant pedagogical model that can contribute to the broader discourse of alternative, faith-based education;

2. Standardise the pedagogy and curriculum of Islamic schools based on the principles of education in Islam and to make both contextually relevant;

3. Contribute to raising the standards of Islamic schools through a teacher education programme at credible faculties of education where ongoing research and development will also be supported.

     

Theory,Practice and Reflection: A pre-service primary mathematics education programme

This paper describes a case study investigating the impact of a primary mathematics method programme on pre-service primary teachers' capacity, and willingness to learn and teach mathematics for relational understanding. The programme, a collaborative endeavour between primary schools and university tutors, enables student teachers to practice in an on-going, integrated and consistent manner what they are learning in theory, and to reflect on their experiences. The findings from test, questionnaire and interview data indicate that the weekly cycle of theory, practice and reflection in which student teachers engage enhances their capacity, and provides an incentive for them to learn and teach mathematics for relational understanding.     

Staff development for raising attainment: a practitioner's view of what works

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a practitioner's view of how continuing professional development (CPD) can help raise achievement in schools. It is one of four papers in this issue linked to a research project in Stoke-on-Trent seeking to raise attainment in schools in deprived communicates. Based on over 20 years’ experience working in and with different schools in the UK, this paper frames a head teacher's perspective, outlining seven strategies she believes are key to improving school performance. These strategies are providing CPD opportunities to all staff rather than just those involved in teaching, planning CPD activities in the light of school development priorities, mentoring and coaching between staff, forming inter-school networks and partnerships, team teaching, peer review and continual assessment of CPD impact.     

Audrey's acquisition of fractions: A case study into the learning of formal mathematics

National standards for teaching mathematics in primary schools in the Netherlands leave little room for formal fractions. However,a newly developed programme in fractions aims at learning formal fractions. The starting point in the development of this curriculum is the students’ acquisition of `numeracy infractions’. In this case study we describe the growth in reasoning ability with fractions of one student in this newly developed programme of 30 lessons during one whole school year. In the study we found indications that the programme and its teaching stimulated the progress of an average performer in mathematics. Moreover we found arguments as to what extent formal operations with fractions suits as an educational goal. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Is dealing with errors in the classroom specific for school subjects? A study of the error climate in mathematics,German, and English

A frequent observation in the school context is that opportunities to learn from errors are often missed. However, a positive error climate may support learning from errors. For the school subject of mathematics, some findings about characteristics of the error climate already exist. But, a comparison of the error climate between different school subjects is still pending. In the present study, it is analyzed whether the error climate differs in different school subjects and whether the same interrelations between the ways in which individuals deal with errors can be found in these different school subjects. In a study with 937 students from 48 classrooms from grades 5 to 7, in different secondary schools in Germany and Austria, we assessed the error climate and individual reactions following errors in mathematics, German, and English. Small mean differences between mathematics and the two language subjects were yielded. In addition, we found medium-sized correlations between the error climate measures in the three school subjects. However, the same pattern of interrelations between error climate and the way individuals deal with errors for all three school subjects could be shown. The results suggest that the perception of the error climate is rather similar in different school subjects. This has implications, for instance, for interventions that aim at fostering the error climate.

     

Learning to Lead: an Approach to Mathematics Teacher Leader Development

This paper describes a partnership between a university and an urban school district, formed with a goal of preparing mathematics teacher leaders to conduct professional development (PD) at their schools. The university and district partners worked together to achieve the district’s mission of providing every student with high-quality instruction and equitable learning opportunities in mathematics by building the district’s capacity to conduct school-based PD for mathematics teachers. Given the power of school-based subject-specific PD for improving instructional quality, we worked with Teacher Leaders from participating schools to prepare and support them to lead PD workshops at their schools. In this paper, we examine how Teacher Leaders learn and adapt key elements of a PD model over three school years through the lenses of Prediger et al.’s Three-Tetrahedron-Model (2019) and the university’s Learning to Lead model. Over 3 years, we see that Teacher Leaders use the key structures of the PD model; make adaptations in response to school goals, interests, and priorities; and gain confidence in their work with colleagues. By viewing the adaptations through the lens of pedagogies of practice as well as the relationships illustrated by the 3-T model, this work offers insights into the complexities of teacher leadership development.

     

Correlates of student stress in secondary education

Background

Educational differentiation, or the allocation of students to different types of school or different locations within schools, is a common feature of modern education systems. In most countries, student outcomes vary considerably, both by school and academic location within schools.

Purpose

The purpose is to ascertain the extent that between- and within-school differences in student performance can be attributed to students' socio-economic background and their home resources.

Sample

The samples are from the OECD's 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study of 15-year-old students' performance in reading, mathematics and science. Data from 30 countries were analysed. The student samples ranged between 2500 (USA) and 30,000 (Canada) students. The samples are representative of the populations of 15-year-old school students in each country.

Design and methods

Multiple regression analysis was used to ascertain the extent to which between-school differences (measured by intra-class correlations) and within-school differences (measured by the effects of the composite variable ‘academic location’ which comprised grade and school programme) declined when taking into consideration students' socio-economic background and home environment.

Results

In most countries the intra-class correlations and the effects of academic location declined only marginally. This was especially the case in countries with large between-school differences such as the tracked systems of continental Europe.

Conclusions

Differences in student performance between and within schools cannot be accounted for by socio-economic background. The study lends some support to the official rational for tracking and other forms of educational differentiation, that the allocation of students to different school types and academic locations within schools is largely based on student ability.     

Research mathematicians as teacher educators: focusing on mathematics for secondary mathematics teachers

We believe that professional mathematicians who teach undergraduate mathematics courses to prospective teachers play an important role in the education of secondary school mathematics teachers. Thus, we explored the views of research mathematicians on the mathematics that should be taught to prospective mathematics teachers, on how the courses they teach can serve teachers in their work with school students, and on the changes they would implement if their courses were designed specifically for prospective teachers. We constructed profiles of the four mathematicians based on their responses to a clinical interview. We employed the construct of mathematics teacher-educators’ triad in the reflective analysis of our findings and extended the construct based on the results of this study. In conclusion, we commented on potential ways to draw stronger connections between university mathematics and the mathematics taught in schools.     

Primary Teachers’ Reflections on Inquiry- and Context-Based Science Education

Inquiry- and context-based teaching strategies have been proven to stimulate and motivate students’ interests in learning science. In this study, 12 teachers reflected on these strategies after using them in primary schools. The teachers participated in a continuous professional development (CPD) programme. During the programme, they were also introduced to a teaching model from a European project, where inquiry- and context-based education (IC-BaSE) strategies were fused. The research question related to teachers’ reflections on these teaching strategies, and whether they found the model to be useful in primary schools after testing it with their students. Data collection was performed during the CPD programme and consisted of audio-recorded group discussions, individual portfolios and field notes collected by researchers. Results showed that compared with using only one instructional strategy, teachers found the new teaching model to be a useful complement. However, their discussions also showed that they did not reflect on choices of strategies or purposes and aims relating to students’ understanding, or the content to be taught. Before the CPD programme, teachers discussed the use of inquiry mainly from the aspect that students enjoy practical work. After the programme, they identified additional reasons for using inquiry and discussed the importance of knowing why inquiry is performed. However, to develop teachers’ knowledge of instructional strategies as well as purposes for using certain strategies, there is need for further investigations among primary school teachers.     

Helping Prospective Principals Understand the Mathematics Curriculum: a Singapore experience

Principals should play an important role as curriculum leaders in their schools. To discharge this role effectively, the principals must understand the nature of curriculum not only of the disciplines in which they have been trained, but also of other key disciplines commonly included in the school programme. A way must be found to train the principals to acquire up‐to‐date knowledge of the practices and trends in various subject curricula, so that they can carry out informed discussions with the heads of subject departments to set goals and directions for these programmes. This article focuses on such a programme, called the Diploma in Educational Administration (DEA), which has been developed at the Institute of Education, Singapore to train prospective principals. In particular, the paper shows how local research has been integrated into the training programme to help participants understand the mathematics curriculum.     

The transition to secondary school geometry: can there be a “chain of school mathematics”?

Students mainly perceive the transition to secondary school as an opportunity to start their school career anew. Reality often proves them wrong, especially in the case of mathematics. In our paper, we briefly discuss children’s transition to secondary school as both an opportunity and a problem, with reference to the Greek context. In discussions about the transition to secondary school and its effect on the teaching and learning of mathematics, primary and secondary school teachers in Greece often depict school mathematics as a “chain” of concepts and procedures. With this metaphor as our reference point, we discuss how ideologies about the teaching of mathematics are enacted in both school levels. We will base our discussion on the analysis of extracts taken from dialogues in primary and secondary school mathematics classrooms in Greece. In our analysis, we employ a Peircean view of semiotics in an attempt to conceptualize students’ rushed introduction to rigor in justifying mathematical statements in secondary school. These extracts are part of a longitudinal study that aimed, on the one hand, to pinpoint discontinuities and continuities in the teaching of geometry between primary and secondary schools and, on the other, to investigate whether a set of curriculum material that we designed could serve as a link in the teaching of geometry between the two school levels.     

Imagining the shaping of reflective deliberative education leaders: The devil is in the detail

Abstract

In this article we critically engage with some of the challenges and issues pertaining to the implementation of the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership following a national agreement by the national Department of Education, provincial education departments and several universities. The rather idealised vision of the programme to provide learning opportunities to promote quality education in South African schools through the development of a corps of education leaders who apply critical understanding, values, knowledge and skills to school leadership and management in line with the vision of democratic transformation seemingly meshed with our own approach to the development of leadership. However, consequent to the planning, budgeting and implementation of this school leadership programme we realised that realities posed serious challenges. In this paper we narrate how it became increasingly clear how “the devil is in the detail”.     

Partnering with Districts to Expand an After-School Maths Club Programme

Abstract

A key intervention of the South African Numeracy Chair Project (SANCP) since 2011 has been the introduction of mathematics (or maths) clubs, which occur in the out-of-school time space. In 2016 the maths club concept was developed into a 15-week Pushing for Progression (PfP) teacher development programme which supports primary school mathematics teachers to run clubs beyond the SANCP local area. Expanding intervention models beyond local schools is imperative in the second phase of the SANCP (2016–2020). Working from a mixed methods methodological approach, the researchers collected pre- and post-data for a 4-operations assessment of the entire PfP programme. In this article they share learner data from one of the nine teachers who participated in the PfP maths club programme in the Uitenhague District, Eastern Cape, South Africa, to illuminate how partnerships between academics, district officials and teachers can enable powerful student learning in the club space. They argue further that within the tightly focused development programme run by teachers in this one district, it is possible for learners to make substantive progress in mathematical proficiency (MP) (especially procedural fluency and conceptual understanding) when comparing scores and learner methods between a pre- and post- assessment.     

Early intervention in behaviour

Abstract

FAST-Track is a support programme for pupils with social and emotional behaviour difficulties. It is designed to integrate the school curriculum, social skills training, reading development, parenting skills and home-school liaison. A 3 year longitudinal study is reported in which schools implementing the full FAST-Track programme were compared with those implementing only the curriculum component. Changes in behaviour were monitored using an amended version of the Rutter Behaviour Rating Scale. Results did not show any clear difference between the two groups of schools but did show substantial differences between individual schools, highlighting the difficulty of demonstrating the effectiveness of intervention programmes given the multiplicity of other factors which determine behaviour change. The implications of these findings for the methodology and practice of intervention programmes in this area are explored.     

Educational television in the Ivory Coast

After two years of study and research, the Ivory Coast has drawn up a far-reaching, ambitious programme for televised education. The aim is to ensure that all children receive primary schooling, to achieve this in fifteen years, and to use the national network of schools equipped with television to provide education for children and adults alike all over the country. This is an ambitious project, calling for an exceptional effort on the part of a national community to raise, once and for all, the educational level of an entire population and to cut through the tangle of obstacles which developing countries encounter in their struggle against ignorance. This undertaking is a good example of a country and its government becoming aware of the close relationship between its economic development and its educational system. It reveals the essential links between the community and the school and the results of their interaction on a nation-wide scale and, of course, at the local level. It is an example, too, of the modernization of an educational system which is based alike on genuine national cultural values and on the use of the most up-to-date teaching methods and techniques—two principles which combine quite naturally, as I shall try to show here. now chief technical adviser to the Ivory Coast educational television programme.     

The Philadelphia Experiment

In this article, we discuss one of the central findings from our study of the long-term impact of school desegregation on adult graduates of racially mixed high schools: what graduates said about the impact of their schooling experiences on their current understandings about race, and on their lives in a racially diverse society. Of the 242 graduates we interviewed, nearly all said that their high school experiences left them more prepared for life in a racially diverse society than they otherwise would be. In addition, every one of the graduates interviewed said that their high school experiences left them with a deeper understanding of people of other backgrounds and an increased sense of comfort in interracial settings. Many of these graduates stressed the importance of their daily experiences of negotiating race in high school as one of the most challenging yet rewarding aspects of their education. These lessons, they observed, could not be gained through multicultural curricula or student exchange programs; rather, such insights, they believed, could only be learned by the daily experience of attending racially diverse schools. In this way, the experiences of these graduates speak to the need to reconsider our national retreat from policies designed to foster diversity in public schools.     

Encouraging a career in science: a research review of secondary schools’ effects on students’ STEM orientation

Previous studies have pointed out that schools play a central role in students’ orientation towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, studies use a variety of theoretical foundations in order to define variables and hypothesise relationships between schools and STEM orientation. In order to facilitate the interpretation and comparison of the studies’ findings, we conducted a systematic literature review, which theoretically integrates the variables, summarises the findings, and derives further research suggestions. In accordance with our inclusion criteria, we selected 28 peer-reviewed journal articles, which have investigated the effects of schools on students’ STEM orientation via quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Analyses show that the studies were quite diverse regarding investigated STEM orientation variables, but overall positive with regard to the effects of school. Based on the theoretical integration and comparison of findings, we point out methodological and theoretical challenges for future research on the effects of school and STEM orientation.