Are you interested in offering Core Maths but don’t feel you have sufficient teaching capacity? This page will provide you with a number of strategies to ensure that Core Maths can be introduced and go on to thrive in your school or college.
Increasing capacity from within your Maths Department
Teaching Core Maths can be a new and exciting challenge for teachers who normally teach A level maths and further maths. It also offers early career teachers a chance to build their experience and confidence in teaching maths at a higher level than GCSE.
If you are new to teaching Core Maths, we encourage you to sign up for one or more of the various free professional development opportunities we offer:
Preparing to Teach Core Maths
The Preparing to Teach Core Maths short course aims to ensure that teachers go into their first year of teaching the course confident, excited and well-resourced. This course is suitable for teachers who are looking forward to teaching Core Maths for the first time.
Subject Knowledge Live | Core Maths Common Topics
The AMSP’s popular Subject Knowledge Live course focusses on the mathematical content of the Core Maths topics common to all versions of the course. This course is suitable for those who are preparing to teach Core Maths for the first time and those who are early in their Core Maths careers.
New to Teaching Core Maths Programme
The New to Teaching Core Maths Programme, offers teachers the chance to hone their craft as Core Maths teachers. Sessions blend key topic areas with the associated pedagogical thinking that is the key to getting the most out of your students. This course is suitable for teachers in their first or second year of teaching Core Maths.
Core Maths can be an excellent course for early career teachers to deliver – NQTs and RQTs often relish having the opportunity to deliver this exciting and relevant course.
Increasing capacity from outside of your Maths Department
As the mathematical ideas covered in Core Maths are regularly used by many teachers of other A level subjects, you may find that you have teachers from outside of the maths department that would be perfect at teaching the qualification. But how can you identify them?
When looking for teachers of other subjects to deliver Core Maths, the following checklist may be useful:
- Are they keen to do it? Enthusiasm and curiosity go a long way.
- Are they teaching a course where there is already a lot of overlap with Core Maths? Teachers of A level subjects such as Biology, Geography, Psychology, Business Studies and applied sciences will already be covering many aspects of Core Maths curriculum.
- Do they have A level Mathematics (or Core Maths) themselves? Whilst not a pre-requisite, the confidence that goes alongside having studied maths at level 3 will really help.
Your local Maths Hub via the NCETM have a fantastic programme for teachers of other subjects. They will have the opportunity to develop their mathematical subject knowledge and understand the pedagogy that underpins the teaching of the qualification. Visit the NCETM page to find out more.
The NCETM
Specialist Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics (Secondary Non-specialist Teachers) Programme
