As a result of this project, participants will not only be able to ‘do’ mathematics, but will also have the appropriate pedagogical knowledge to support their class teachers and pupils well. Participants will develop both their knowledge about maths and knowledge about the teaching of maths, developing better pedagogy and being aware of how pupils learn, and how to support the teaching of the content most effectively. Classroom practice will develop through participants’ engagement with gap tasks between meetings, trying out activities with pupils to promote understanding, reasoning and fluency.
TAs will develop knowledge of the pedagogy of maths teaching and understand how children think and where their misconceptions stem from. Participants will understand the role that certain representations, models and manipulatives can play in the development of pupils’ understanding of number and calculation, particularly place value and proficiency. Those involved will get better at working within classes and with small groups of pupils; they will gain knowledge of practical ways to apply the skills and understanding developed during the programme.
It has long been recognised that maths teaching is enhanced when practitioners are confident about the subject matter. Maths Hubs work with a range of partners to ensure there is effective professional development of those supporting maths in schools so that they have the specialist knowledge required to support the learning of maths.
What does the project involve?
The project will involve four days of training These sessions will focus on development of theory, pedagogy and give TAs practical ideas that they can take back to is in their classrooms. The sessions will cover key subject knowledge in ‘Number Sense’, ‘Addition and Subtraction’ and ‘Multiplication and Division’.
There will be gap tasks following each of the training sessions, in which participants must trial the approaches explored in the training.
It is a project requirement that the identified TA/s attend ALL the sessions. In addition, it would be greatly beneficial for the Maths Lead to attend the first hour of the first session along with their TA.
The project’s aims involve supporting teaching assistants to:
- Enhance their maths subject knowledge with an emphasis on the key structures in each mathematical area covered
- Understand the key elements that form number sense, forms of addition and subtraction, forms of multiplication and division, and forms of fractions, including precise language, structures and representations
- Review their practice as a result of the sessions and make specific adaptations to impact on pupil outcomes.
Who is this Work Group for?
These programmes are designed for TAs who are supporting maths, and who would like to develop their specialist knowledge for teaching maths. This may be particularly relevant for new TAs or TAs that have not received maths-specific training.
This Work Group has limited space and therefore each school can only send a maximum of 2 teaching assistants. (It can be just 1).
Venue/Online details:
Session 1: 4th December 2020, 10 – 12:30 (Zoom)
Maths Lead of the School needs to come to the first session ONLY.
Session 2: 15th January 2021, 10-12:30 (Zoom)
Session 3: 12th March 2021, 10-2 (Aim is face-to-face at Bryon Court Primary, Brent)
Session 4: 23rd April 2021, 10-2 (Aim is face-to-face at Bryon Court Primary, Brent)
In order to apply to be a part of this project, you will need to fill out an Expression of Interest Form. To see the full flyer, click here.
The sessions will be led by PD Accredited, Minesh Randeria who is also the Maths Leader at Byron Court.
All TAs who attended last year’s sessions commented positively on how their teaching and understanding of maths had improved because of what they had learnt in the modules.
Contact michelle.foster@lcwmathshub.co.uk
*The London Central and West Maths Hub reserves the right to charge a £75 fee for non-attendance to the sessions or for cancellations to any of the sessions with less than 1 week’s notice.
