2008 / 2009

In response to teacher demand, Mathematics is to be added to the list of subjects for discussion at The Prince of Wales’s education Summer Schools.

The residential courses for secondary school teachers, now held twice a year, are part of the programme of The Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI), established in 2007. A venture by teachers for teachers, the PTI works in partnership with Cambridge University and has the support of the Training and Development Agency, Ofsted and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

The first Summer School concentrated on English and History; Science was added to the curriculum in 2007; Geography in 2008; and, with the support of the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics, Mathematics will be piloted this year.

Bernice McCabe, co-director of the PTI said, ‘The phrase “I was no good at Maths at school” is too often seen as socially acceptable, even though the importance of mathematical understanding for the next generation is fundamental. In the experience of the Mathematics teachers with whom the PTI is working, curriculum changes, designed to make Mathematics more accessible, have resulted in lower achievement and the acquisition of less subject knowledge. Many teachers have told us that their higher ability students are no longer challenged to the same degree and the “good enough” standard for lower ability students has been lowered.

She continued, ‘An Ofsted report on Mathematics last autumn pointed out that, despite considerable resources being spent on Maths provision in the secondary sector, “strategies to improve test and examination performance were …. preparing pupils to gain the qualifications but are not equipping them well enough mathematically for their futures”. The report points to the essential nature of the teachers’ subject knowledge.

‘The Maths teachers we work with have described how their colleagues often feel obliged to take the path of least resistance by teaching according to closely prescribed schemes of work and topic lists. This results in their not demonstrating their subject knowledge and their progressively losing enthusiasm for their work. The focus on “teaching to the test” has resulted in a relentless focus on question-answering to the detriment of time spent on investigations and creativity in problem solving. Yet our understanding of the world around us depends on our grasp of basic mathematical knowledge.

‘One of the PTI’s goals is to encourage teaching beyond the test. We hope that teachers attending this year’s Summer School will be re-inspired to teach their subjects in a more rigorous, ambitious and creative way.’

Each year, the PTI’s residential courses are over-subscribed with teachers from secondary schools around the country expressing a real demand for subject-specific professional development.

This year’s Summer School will take place at Queen’s College, Cambridge (29 June to 1 July) and will focus on Science and Mathematics. Keynote speakers include: 

• Cosmologist Professor John Barrow, Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge
• Professor Celia Hoyles, Director of the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics
• Professor Chris Budd, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath
• Professor David Spielgelhalter, Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge