MT216i Editorial
A few words from Douglas Butler and Lyndon Baker.
Welcome to the second edition of MTi. The hope is that you the viewer, the reader are enjoying your forays into the technology. MT enjoys a certain community spirit, and our hope is that we sustain in part that spirit as we boldly go where none have been before...possibly.
The eventual success of our journey is dependent on the membership contributing articles and materials. Ideas and resources that benefit from the added dynamic of internet and electronic wherewithal are always needed. Articles, your experiences and classroom materials are always going to be of interest to us and fellow mathematical educators. Advice in preparing appropriate contributions for inclusion in MTi is readily available, simply contact us.
We hope the variety herein should sustain your ‘browsing’. We would appreciate as much feedback as possible from members who access these pages - use the Forum to comment. Your reactions can be easily shared across our community and maybe like minded voices will start to respond as one voice on what might be called the big issues.
With the demands of the ‘job’ - many teachers are seemingly left with little or no time to engage in peripheral activities. So when exhorting you to contribute a blog or an article we are fully aware of the pressures that surround the working day. But. in some ways it can be so easy - for example, why not pick up a camcorder and give us a tour of your classroom? What is it like? What is posted on the walls? How comfortable and functional is the working environment, both for yourself and the learners? Have you seen Jacqui’s mathematics classroom?
How confident are we of the ability of all students to function mathematically?
The word functional reminds us of ‘functional mathematics’, which in turn reminds us of something written earlier in MT 215. Surely as teachers our hopes, our ambitions focus on encouraging learners to function mathematically and to grow in confidence and self esteem within the subject. But, hand on heart; is this the focus that recent initiatives really have at their centre? Perhaps such aims and objectives are at variance to target driven cultures that are perceived in many schools. Within the wide spectrum of the school population how confident are we of the ability of all students to function mathematically? Is this confidence and sense of security growing? Are programmes of study in schools appropriate? - are they sufficiently challenging? - do they foster and support mathematical thinking?
Even as this editorial is being put together the top story at BBC News education page is, “Ministers want primary schools to raise pupils’ results”.
You might like to read this article at the BBC
Fourteen hundred primary schools may be targeted in the drive to improve literacy and numeracy. They fall below a government ‘floor target’ for attainment in the English and mathematics.
It is reported that ministers want at least 55% of pupils in every school reaching the expected performance, for their age, for example, Level 4, at the end of KS2. These targets, to be announced by Schools Secretary Ed Balls, bring to mind previous government thinking about the National Challenge.
As a teacher you might want to contribute your thoughts in the Forum. In order to start or respond to a thread, you will need to log in first using your email and password.
