Valerija supports teachers and students in the Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland areas of the North East.
As a newly appointed Area Coordinator within the North East region, I feel privileged to be collaborating with teachers and students from Middlesbrough, Redcar, Cleveland and schools in North Yorkshire. This role provides many opportunities for building expertise in specific areas of maths and to visit schools as a maths advisor in the region.
My aim for the next few months is to get to know the schools in the North East, and find ways to help develop statistics skills – my personal passion – with teachers and students. Statistics is a divisive area of maths that students either love or hate, possibly because it is so different to pure maths.
Throughout my own school days, I found participating in maths competitions particular helpful to my studies. In Croatia where I grew up, the curriculum is not so exam driven, and teachers have more time to engage with extra-curricular enrichment activities. This helped to inspire a passion for maths that stayed with me throughout my career and into my role as Area Coordinator. I hope I can instill that same passion within students across the region.
Although teaching is an undeniably difficult profession, being a teacher in England provides so many opportunities. In the past I have marked national A level exams for the old specification S1 and S2 modules, as well SATS papers for KS2. It is always interesting to see what is happening in early years of education.
I previously taught in an 11-18 school, as well as a Further Education College, and lead some international cross-curricular projects with a strong mathematical base. I hope I can use the expertise I learnt in these roles to assist you and your students in the coming months.
Email Valerija at [email protected].