Από: ACME [[email protected]] Αποστολή: Πεμ 14/08/2014 12:50 Προς: vassilios gikas Κοιν.: Θέμα: ACME Newsletter August 2014 Συνημμένα: The Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education acme-uk.org | The latest updates, news and events from ACME ACME Newsletter August 2014 Dear Colleague Prof GIKAS, We have a range of new projects in the pipeline, one of which is on initial teacher education. We are losing two of our Committee members very soon, but we are delighted to welcome Dr Mary McAlinden, Principal Lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford Brookes University who is joining the Committee in September. ACME on Twitter: @ACMEmaths ACME contact: ACME contact form ACME blog: Maths Memos ACME Committee ACME members Sybil Cock and Dr Niall MacKay will finish their term on ACME at the end of this month. Both Sybil and Niall will join the ACME Outer Circle in September. Dr Mary McAlinden, Principal Lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford Brookes University will begin her three year term on ACME in September. We are delighted to have Mary join ACME and look forward to her first committee meeting in September. Q&A with ACME member Sybil Cock Sybil Cock will finish her term on ACME in August, joining the Outer Circle in September. After three years on the committee Sybil shares with us her reflections on policy development. What made you want to be part of ACME? I had just retired from an extremely demanding job as head of maths and computing in an inner city sixth form college. I had considered applying to be on ACME previously but I knew then, and know even better now, that it would be very challenging to combine ACME with a frontline job. Ive always been a champion of new and exciting ways of teaching maths, and this informed the way I worked with students and teachers at all levels. I was particularly inspired by being a part of the Standards Unit: Improving Learning in Mathematics and one of the first wave of Further Maths Centres was hosted by my college. Involvement in national projects such as this brought ACME to my attention, and I served on the Outer Circle briefly where I was involved in providing some advice, but obviously this was more limited than what I was able to do on the Committee. I saw the advert (Open Call) in April or May 2011 on Facebook - it was on the National Centre for the Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) feed. And I thought Id give it a go.... Because Id have a bit of time..... What has been your highlight of your time on the Committee? The highlight was probably working on the Post-16 project which led to the development of Core Maths. When the expert group report was published I was really excited and I will certainly be keeping an eye on that over the next years. Im also very pleased that ACME stuck to its guns about highlighting the damage that the A level reforms could have on the take up of further maths. What have you learned about policy making and influencing during your time on ACME? Ive learned lots. The first few meetings, especially those with civil servants, were very hard to participate in for me. At times I have felt frustrated and thought that the Government does not listen at all. However I now know, looking back, that our persistence and clarity has made small but significant differences. What would you like to see for the future of ACME? Id like to make sure that ACME continues to speak on behalf of all learners of maths. Many of these are invisible to those that have never attended or taught in a college and that certainly includes most people in policy development. Colleges and increasingly school sixth forms now have large numbers of students who did not succeed at GCSE maths at 16 and now deserve an exciting and engaging curriculum rather than a diet of resits and tired old qualifications. ACME News and Updates New projects The summer is an exciting time for ACME we are currently scoping two new projects to be embarked upon in the coming months. The first is a project on initial teacher education, which will complement ACME’s recent work on professional development. The second is a project on mathematics and statistics which we will be undertaking with the Royal Statistical Society. Keep an eye on the ACME website for project updates. ACME is also planning to host a round table in November on professional development as part of the follow up to the ACME report ‘Empowering teachers: success for learners.’ Core Maths ACME is continuing its engagement with Core Maths. In June ACME wrote a letter to Elizabeth Truss on Core Maths. In the letter ACME highlighted the importance of there being a clear implementation plan for Core Maths qualification and also emphasised the necessity for communication with schools and colleges, Higher Education Institutions and employers about the importance of Core Maths. Ofqual has also proposed lifting the accreditation requirement for all qualifications aside from GCSE, AS and A level qualifications, meaning that Ofqual would not have to accredit the qualifications in future. ACME has argued that for Core Maths to succeed, there must be a level playing field for Core Maths candidates and users of the qualification. The argument for GCSE and GCE qualifications is that continuing to accredit these qualifications on a subject-by-subject basis would means that the same qualification can be awarded by multiple awarding organisations. ACME recommends that this argument should also apply to Core Maths. Core Maths: next steps The Core Maths Support Programme (CMSP) is being delivered by the CfBT Education Trust and will help institutions promote and implement Core Maths. The awarding organisations are finalising their qualifications to be submitted to Ofqual by the end of August. The qualifications then need to be submitted to the UCAS Tariff Advisory Board to decide whether they will be allocated UCAS tariff points. Core Maths qualifications will be take on by 180 Early Adopter schools and colleges from September 2014. The CMSP will support the Early Adopter Teaching Projects in implementing the qualifications. A larger cohort of schools and colleges will be offering students Core Maths starting from September 2015. Core Maths has been discussed in recent reports: The Nuffield Foundation: Mathematics after 16: the state of play, challenges and ways ahead Higher Education Academy: Mathematical transitions: a report on the mathematical and statistical needs of students undertaking undergraduate studies in various disciplines A level reform The A level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB) published its reports on A level content. Simultaneously the Department for Education and Ofqual launched consultations on A level content and assessment respectively. ACME made an initial statement, commenting on the ALCAB recommendations and the A level reform process, which can be found here. ACME will be responding to the consultations over the summer and is convening a meeting in late summer to allow stakeholders to discuss the consultations and the ALCAB report. Maths Memos Our latest post on Maths Memos is a guest post from Dr Ian Jones, Royal Society Vision for Science and Mathematics Education Committee member. He writes about post-16 mathematics. We also have an update on all that has been going on in A level recently. We had a range of other blog posts on Maths Memos over the last few weeks: Guest post by Dr David Martin: Working to a different timescale Jennie Pennant: Maths Hubs and professional development for all teachers of mathematics Professor Andrew Noyes: ACMEs blueprint for mathematics education ACME activities: ACME responded to the Ofqual consultation ‘Setting the Grade Standards of new GCSEs in England.’ In the response ACME highlighted the need to recognise the changed size and scope of the new GCSE Mathematics during the continued review of the qualification. Chair of ACME, Professor Steve Sparks corresponded with Elizabeth Truss regarding the STEM Ministerial Group meetings. A letter to Ofqual was submitted in response to the consultation ‘Completing GCSE, AS and A level reform.’ In the letter ACME highlighted concerns including the grade discrepancy between English and mathematics and suggested qualification reform should be undertaken by a standing subject-specialist committee. The letter will be published on the website in due course. ACME submitted a letter to Ofqual regarding the consultation on lifting the accreditation requirement pointing out the importance of accrediting Core Maths in the future. ACME is preparing a letter to the Standards and Testing Agency regarding the National curriculum assessments: 2016 sample materials published in July. © Copyright ACME / The Royal Society ACME, The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace London, SW1Y 5AG Tel: +44 (0)20 7451 2575 Email: [email protected] Web: acme-uk.org
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:13:30 +0000
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