1. Mathematics in London: celebrating success and taking on the challenge
Jane Jones HMI
27 January 2009

2. The aim: success in mathematics
Learners of mathematics who:
are confident and enjoy mathematics
can think mathematically for themselves and discuss their ideas with others
are equipped and qualified mathematically for their futures

3. Creating success through high quality teaching and learning for all pupils
Key features:
teachers’ good mathematical expertise (subject knowledge and subject-specific pedagogy)
teaching that focuses on developing conceptual understanding
opportunities for pupils to talk about and make sense of mathematics, apply their mathematics, solve problems, make connections and generalise
… all underpinned by a shared ethos about teaching and learning mathematics.

4. The key question is …
… how to get there?

5. Starting from here - some of the challenges:
staffing mathematics departments with effective specialists ….. and keeping them staffed
appointing good leaders of mathematics
tackling the wide variation in quality of teaching, too much of which is focused on the acquisition of disparate skills
responding to external and internal pressures on improving examination performance by focusing on mathematical understanding.

6. How to get there? The role of senior leaders includes:
knowing what outstanding teaching in mathematics looks like.
identifying the strengths and opportunities, the weaknesses and barriers that exist in your school.
championing ways for your department to work together, drawing on external support where appropriate, to improve teachers’ subject expertise, and the quality of teaching and learning.
encouraging the use of imaginative approaches to teaching and learning that promote pupils’ understanding.

7. The best teachers …
… develop mathematical understanding, particularly by:
expecting pupils to remember methods, rules and facts as well as grasping the underpinning concepts, making connections with earlier learning and other topics, and making sense of the mathematics so that they can use it independently
ensuring pupils investigate open-ended problems which offer opportunities to choose which approach to adopt, to reason and generalise
emphasising mathematical talk so that pupils become confident in expressing and developing their thinking.

8. A step at a time: improving bit by bit

9. Approaches to improving teaching and learning in mathematics
There are many examples of good practice in mathematics teaching and learning, and in subject leadership. Good practice can, and is, being home grown.
A sense of a common purpose about influencing the quality of mathematics teaching is beginning to emerge and is increasingly supported by guidance, professional development materials, high quality resources, …
… and the Ofsted report Mathematics: understanding the score with forthcoming associated booklets on improving practice in mathematics teaching.

10. Mathematics in London: celebrating success and taking on the challenge
Jane Jones HMI
27 January 2009