A key element of the Primary Strategic Goal is to support teachers and leaders in primary schools to establish highly effective classroom practices through developing teaching for mastery approaches, as exemplified in the NCETM's Essence of Mathematics Teaching for Mastery. This Work Group will support schools in developing a teaching for mastery approach.
The Work Groups in this project typically consist of a group of six schools, represented by two Lead Teachers from each school, who work collaboratively with a Mastery Specialist. Lead Teachers attend workshops that include opportunities to see teaching for mastery in practice. They take part in joint observations of lessons, which focus on the Five Big Ideas of teaching for mastery, and reflect on the impact of the lesson design choices. There are also opportunities for collaborative planning. After each workshop, all schools agree actions that they will take before the next one. Through engaging in discussion with others, this Work Group supports teachers to make changes to their own practice, to apply mastery principles, and to reflect on the impact on pupils. Participants will be supported by at least three bespoke visits from the Mastery Specialist.
This is a professional development opportunity designed to support teachers to develop best practice in maths in their schools. The group keep in contact and share experiences from their classrooms and school settings. The ongoing work between participating teachers creates a whole year of school-to-school collaborative professional development.
There is an opportunity to gather schools into mixed-age Primary TfM Development Work Groups. These will run in the same way as a standard Development Work Group at the start of the year. Later in the year the group will start to look at mixed-age planning materials. These are grounded in the Curriculum Prioritisation materials and are designed to run in a whole-class teaching model over a two-year cycle.
