Succeeding as a Maths Teacher

CAROLINE KENNEDY, AMIE MEEK, EMMA WESTON AND JEMMA SHERWOOD

Bloomsbury Education

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First published in Great Britain 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd

This edition published in Great Britain 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd

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Dedication

There are lots of people that have made this book possible by letting us watch them teach, by getting involved in coaching and mentoring, by guiding and directing us over our careers, by writing and sharing amazing resources, and through discussions about teaching mathematics. Thanks to the superb mathematics education community. This book is dedicated to Claire Clay, the (not-so) silent contributor, whose passion for calculators is unparalleled, whose knitting is sublime, and without whom we’d never get the meetings titled.

Introduction

What’s the point of this, anyway? Anyone who has spent any time in the maths classroom has heard that question. We are told that maths is important, that’s it’s useful, but in the middle of solving an equation it might not necessarily feel that way. The thing is, mathematics has a hugely important place in schools and part of this is due to its utility. A basic level of numeracy is useful in daily life, when you are shopping or making dinner, and statistical literacy allows you to be a critical consumer of marketing and news. Mathematics underpins scientific discovery, economic analysis, computer science and technological development. It’s no stretch to say that the modern world is built on mathematics and that people successful in school mathematics have their pick of next steps. But utility is not where the point of mathematics ends. One of the oldest intellectual pursuits in the world, people have studied mathematics for thousands of years as a part of philosophy or in its own right, appreciating the particular insights that only seem to come from numbers and geometry. If a school curriculum is deliberately broad, to allow pupils to experience the spectrum of human endeavour and thought, then the mathematical lens must be included as it reveals an aspect of truth that cannot be found elsewhere. Rational thought is underpinned by mathematical principles. As the realm of logical deduction, studying mathematics allows pupils to think in ways different to those in history, or music, and allows them to communicate differently. So we see that mathematics must be a fundamental part of a broad, comprehensive education.

Yet there is one more thing that makes the study of mathematics important. There is joy to be found in solving puzzles or problems. There is a kind of thrill in following a set of steps through to a logically flawless conclusion. To those willing to look for it, mathematics has an inherent beauty to rival the greatest art or poetry. Not all pupils will see this, but all pupils should be given the chance to and, with that in mind, we turn our attention to this book.

If you have bought this book you are probably already with us: maths is important and it’s fabulous and everyone should experience that. But how do we translate all our good intentions into actions that have the greatest positive effect on our pupils? How can we, practically, achieve all those ideals that we have about a successful education? Those are the kinds of questions we look at throughout the book. This is not a book on theory, nor is it a clarion call to a vocation. It is our attempt to distil years of experience – in the classroom, leading mathematics departments, training and coaching teachers – into something that gives you a focus and a starting point for what we think is the greatest profession in the world.

Reading this book

Succeeding as a Maths Teacher is written roughly chronologically, with the information you need in your earliest years at the start, right through to the time when you find yourself leading a department or responsible for developing the practice of others.

We don’t expect that you would read it in one go – although you’re very welcome to do so! – rather we imagine that you would keep picking it up and using it as a reference and as a signpost. We direct you to further reading on every chapter so that you can explore whatever takes your interest when you are ready to.

Everything in this book has come through discussion and debate amongst the four of us and while each chapter has a lead author, we decided to present it as a collaborative whole, as it would be impossible to separate our thinking clearly. This means what you read comes from all of us – what we have been taught, what we have observed and reflected on, what we have read and assimilated and tested and refined. It cannot possibly be comprehensive, however. If we haven’t said something it’s not because we don’t think it’s important, just that it would be impossible to talk about everything a great teacher would know in one book. Similarly, it is impossible to isolate the origin of everything we talk about here. We have referenced people wherever we were aware of the reference, or could find a reference, but some ideas are an inevitable combination of years of being in the mathematics education community.

Learning your craft

Every one of us, with practice and reflection, can learn more and get better. Teaching is an evidence-informed craft – we can learn from the evidence but ideas live or die in the way we use them, in the culture and habits we create in our classroom, in the attitudes we promote with our actions and our very way of being.

Your teaching craft will evolve over time and we hope that this book will help you along your journey, serve as an overview of important ideas that will take on new meanings throughout your career, and signpost you to plenty more reading and learning whenever you need it.

Caroline Kennedy, Amie Meek, Emma Weston and Jemma Sherwood April 2023