The teaching demands of A level Mathematics, with its new content and change of assessment foci, is causing concern amongst both experienced and inexperienced teachers of the course. Much of this concern is based on the compulsory applied content of the specification.
In December 2019, 12 teachers attended our ‘A level Mechanics: Year 1 Content’ professional development day at St. George’s Church of England School in Gravesend, Kent. This one-day course was designed to strengthen teachers’ understanding of this component of the applied content of the course and to introduce new teaching ideas and resources that teachers could take back to the classroom. A critical focus of the day was that ‘active’ teaching of the subject matter, using experiments and demonstrations, is vital in developing true understanding of the concepts.
Feedback from the course was very positive, with the most common comment being that the provision of resources and potential teaching strategies was very helpful. Requests for another day focusing on the year 2 content have been noted and will be implemented early in the next academic year.