DfE – The National Mathematics Education Centre

The DfE has issued tender for a national organisation to support the teaching of mathematics in schools. The contract for the National Mathematics Education Centre will commence from 1 August 2016 and will run for three years. There will be an option to extend the contract for a further two years. The value of the contract will be approximately £5.1m up to 31 March 2019.

What will this organisation do?

This organisation forms part of the overall drive to reinforce the importance of mathematics education. In addition it will improve the teaching of mathematics and increase the mathematical attainment of young people.

What happens to Maths Hubs?

The national centre will coordinate the 35 Maths Hubs at a national level by agreeing their annual plans, providing expert support, challenge, monitoring and reporting on progress and success. The Hubs will continue delivering projects that respond to local need and priorities set by the DfE. Amongst the current priorities are projects to transform the teaching of primary mathematics through south-east Asian mastery methods; trialing the use of both high quality resources and textbooks and boosting post-16 participation in mathematics.

The national centre will:

•   Start in August 2016 and provide a strong and effective leadership and co-ordination role the existing 35 Maths Hubs;
•   Provide support to help spread effective practice from Hubs and other successful projects nationally to improve the teaching of mathematics in all primary and secondary schools;
•   Transform teaching of primary mathematics through robust implementation of models and approaches from south-east Asian mastery teaching;
•   Enable Maths Hubs to provide valued support to schools to teach the new mathematics curriculum and qualifications including GCSE mathematics, Core Maths and A/AS mathematics and further mathematics, working with national programmes;
•   Drive improvement to the professional development of mathematics teachers, through improvements to professional development and curriculum materials;
•   Act as a source of expertise in mathematical education issues for government and its partners by providing high quality advice and information on issues in mathematics teaching.’

This contract would appear to take forward the work of NCETM. What are your thoughts on this initiative?

Maths Scholars Assessment Centres

Anyone thinking of applying for a Maths Scholars scholarship has until the 22nd August to do so. There will be two assessment centres during September and four during August. If you are still sitting on the fence, what’s stopping you? Sit down and apply for a scholarship right now. Click here to make a momentous change in your career trajectory.

Teaching Maths for Mastery

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