2. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The New Head of Mathematics Challenges and Strategies for Success

3. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Criteria for Effective Leadership The head of maths is central to the management structure of a secondary school. There is a need to operate on several levels. (Of course...) There has to be a clarity of direction, focus, vision,...

4. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Levels of engagement

5. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Concerns Students Teachers Parents SMT Governors

6. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Concerns engagement security, creativity happy kids, doing well targets, being left alone flash, publicity Students Teachers Parents SMT Governors

7. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Designing an Integrated Course Increasing central control of the curriculum Local implementation

8. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Crofton School: A Case Study Substantial range of local issues: Low achieving intake 12% C+ @ GCSE SMILE Low take up of A level maths

9. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Crofton School: A Case Study Curriculum desires: A problem solving approach to learning maths To include statistics A look at mathematical modelling Integrate ICT into mathematics teaching

10. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Crofton School: A Case Study A change in discourse Students to engage in mathematical discussion Teachers to talk about teaching mathematics A rhetoric of acceptability to be good at maths (ie pro boff)

11. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Big Picture An atomisation of the curriculum can lead to disconnected learning. For students, the problem is seeing the wood for the trees King’s College, London: Effective Teachers of Numeracy  connexionism Askew, M.; Brown, M.; Rhodes, V.; Wiliam, D. & Johnson, D. (1997). Effective Teachers of Numeracy: Report of a study carried out for the Teacher Training Agency. London: King's College, University of London

12. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Big Picture What are the ‘big ideas’ in (school) mathematics? Infinity Number Functionality Transformation Proof Modelling (application)

13. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Designing a Course Autumn 1Autumn 2Spring 1Spring 2Summer 1Summer 2 Year 7 Numeracy Functions y =mx+c Measure- ment Classifi- cation of shapes Algebra: Manipu- lation Handling Data Year 8 Shape Measure- ment Angles Solving equations Probability Extended number systems Classifi- cations of functions Year 9 Triangle relation- ships Numerical methods Solving harder equations SATs preparation SATS + intermission More Handling Data

14. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Designing a Unit: Quadratics What’s the maths? (content) What’s the story? (narrative) What are the student activities? (orientation) What are the exercises? (practice) What are the resources?(resource) When / how will we assess it?(evaluation) How will it be displayed? (display)

15. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Quadratic Functions Check the NC for content Develop a coherent narrative Look at the history Decide on a way in Decide on your end point Develop the story

16. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Quadratic Functions Quadratic functions Plotting Graphs Graph variations y = ax² + c y = x² + bx y = (x + n)(x + m) Factorising and multiplying out Trial and error by zooming Trial and error by calculation Finding the apex from completed squares Completing the square Finding the general formula

17. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Quadratic Functions Student activities – explorations of each level of variability Exercises – practice at each level Resources – a medium to support graphical exploration (graphing calculator/omnigraph) Evaluation and Display – report and write up

18. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Raising Achievement GCSE grades Greater A level take up “bottom end” up to A* Positive talk in the mathematics department No-one sent to the disruptive unit cont’d

19. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Raising Achievement Ban the ‘F’ word Maximize ‘H’ entry Consider an early entry strategy Maths ‘clubs’ - be adventurous Speakers Parents Other teachers

20. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Raising Achievement Make maths buzzy Adopt a can-do rhetoric Be Bold Be Strategic Be Creative

21. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Monitoring and Tracking ACTIVITY Share with your neighbour the practices that your department uses to monitor and track student progress. What action is taken as a result of the data collected?

22. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Monitoring and Tracking What do have to go on? Key stage 2, 3 results CATs, NFER, other external assessments Regular internal assessments Half termly tests EOY exams + past papers

23. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk A Tracking Measure Under achievement

24. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk A Tracking Measure Good achievement

27. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Monitoring and Tracking Effort = achievement – expectation Progress = achievement x – achievement x-1 Prediction is the extrapolation of achievement over time

28. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Monitoring and Tracking Reliable and consistent reporting mechanism To talk to students, parents, tutors To inform target setting and review To generate teacher assessments at KS3 To generate realistic (=useful) predicted grades

29. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Departmental Handbook ACTIVITY Who is the handbook for? As a departmental document:  What does it need to contain  How do you get people to use it?

30. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Departmental Handbook Developing a policy that determines practice: Classroom management  A statement of belief  A detailed encapsulation of practice  A shared view to develop practice  A trial period of implementation  A shared review

31. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Departmental Handbook... A trend towards increasing sophistication... Statements of policy and practice for (e.g.) Groupwork Working with beginning teachers How students write their mathematics

32. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk The Development Plan End of year review meeting Review progress on last year’s plan Set content for the following year’s plan Use the meeting schedule to programme in cyclical development schemes Share responsibility, set timescales, build in costs.

33. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Efficient and effective development Building and maintaining a successful team Issues of Finance Foreign Affairs

34. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Team Building Two considerations What do you want? What do your teachers want?

35. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Team Building-HoD’s view A HoD will want teachers who are: Enthusiastic and energetic Willing to take responsibility Adopt a rhetoric of doing maths and engaging pupils HoDs will need: Recruitment strategies Retention strategies

36. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Team Building - teacher’s view Teachers will want to: follow own interests (e.g. ICT, stats…) have an opportunity for creativity have an effect in the department take up appropriate CPD feel supported with recalcitrant pupils In other words: to be a professional

37. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Resources Part of the function of a head of department is to ensure that as far as possible adequate resources are available to support teaching and learning This can lead to the syndrome of HoDs as ‘Robber-Barons’

38. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Resources: in school issues Inter-department comparisons Need for flexible access to ICT Display material Centrality of mathematics in curriculum Budget formulas Highly competitive Highly political

39. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Resources: out of school Bids to external funding bodies Industry connexions Numeracy/ GATs funding Funding officers have to give money Have projects mapped out in advance

40. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Making Bids Ensure that bid topic matches that required by the funding body (even if in practice it will be a bit tangential) Set out clear success criteria Identify which data will evidence the success criteria Set out precisely how the data will be gathered Keep it simple Keep it manageable

41. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Foreign Affairs The mathematics department has at least two aspects:  An internal structure and organisation  A part of a larger structure, such as the whole school Attention has to be given to both but, in fact, the HoD has to attend to ‘foreign affairs’.

42. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Foreign Affairs Externally the maths department has to account to various constituencies Parents Senior management Targets Appraisal Exam results Governors Publicity Recruitment

43. © 2012 Chris Olley Visit: www.themathszone.co.uk Foreign Affairs Just as the Headteacher has to spend time dealing with extra-school bodies and leaves the deputies to deal with much of the internal running of the school, so too a HoD may attend to foreign affairs while leaving the day to day running of a department to a good deputy. This is sound training in order to take on the job of Head of Department.