Maths Mastery in FE – The Start of 2022!

Following the successful delivery of the Percentages workshops in the second half of the Autumn term we are in the middle of delivering the second block in the series of bespoke workshops. The topic for this term is Fractions, and the workshops have been designed to go right back to basics in an attempt to fill in any knowledge gaps that the students might have, so that they are able to understand the core concepts and apply them in different scenarios.

The workshops continue to be delivered using a Maths Mastery approach based on the “Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract” method and applying the ‘teach less, teach more’ theory which focuses on depth rather than speed.

We have made a start on collecting ‘snapshot’ data via student and teacher questionnaires, a wordle on Mentimeter, and are currently planning focus groups so that we can begin to analyse the impact of the workshops on student confidence and ability.

We have collected our first round of ‘snapshot’ analysis, from both students and teachers, to help us understand how the workshops have impacted classroom behaviours and attitudes towards Maths, and are beginning to analyse the results from these.  We are currently preparing to collect the second round of ‘snapshot’ analysis to help us track changes over time.

Due to further COVID disruption because of the Omicron variant attendance has decreased at the beginning of this term but it is slowly building and settling down again after encouragement from both maths teachers and tutors. For those who have attended we’ve had some great feedback so far, including positive quotations on a wordle via Mentimeter which we will be able to share with you later.

The team are also busy preparing the next round of Maths Mastery workshops, commencing after the February half term break.  The theme for this block will be Ratio and Proportion, and will follow a similar approach to the two previous blocks.  Watch this space for more updates on how we are progressing….