Is Rishi Sunak utterly thick?

[noblegiraffe]

Today he actually went ahead and announced his plans for everyone studying maths till 18.

And all everyone commenting on this on the news or social media has been saying today is "but this is mad because there aren't enough maths teachers to teach the qualifications we already have".

And teachers including maths teachers, are going on strike again next week because the government refuses to pay them properly. The government also failed to meet its maths teacher trainee recruitment target last year and will again this year.

This announcement just gives everyone the wonderful opportunity to point these governmental failings again and again.

Why the fuck would anyone with any political sense announce a policy that cannot happen and gives everyone the opportunity to point out that it can't happen because the government are shit?

Just why?

It’ll never work when secondary schools r using pe teachers to deliver maths lessons as they can’t attract maths teachers, who only have mediocre O’level results themselves.

Sadly it's not enough to have people who know the subject. There is a skill to teaching and encouraging an interest in Mathematics. we also need to stop 'setting' children from the time that they get into school especially for maths.

I hate to disagree, he's not a maths nerd. He studied PPE, granted at Oxford. Nothing about that screams mathematical ability. I might have more respect for his objectives here or for his mathematics ability if he had dyslexia and studied MORSE at Warwick or MMath at Cambridge.

The camera does the maths!

Literally no camera operator ever has got their protractor out mid shoot.

Watching a video about maths is about a beneficial to learning as watching a video about how to ride a bike. It's possible you might pick some things up, but you need to actually get on the bike and try cycling for yourself.

You don't have to be a maths teacher as such to teach maths. You just have to be a qualified teacher with secure subject knowledge to the level you want to teach at. So if you trained in English, you've always liked Maths and been good at it, or indeed really struggled so have lots of empathy as you got your own GCSE at evening class and it's finally clicked and you're really brilliant working with a lower set in year eight - as long as you have the subject knowledge, you can teach it.

I didn't think those sort of teachers were in plentiful supply either though but maybe the government has been planning and secretly recruiting?!?! Seems unlikely.

If this initiative was done REALLY well, like every child who has struggled with maths got a great, caring teacher to boost their confidence and help them with practical skills - budgeting, tax, measuring for DIY etc - it could be really helpful. As it is, it's going to force some of the least confident young people to spend a couple of hours a week to feel bad at something. It would be much better to put the money into adult education so they can come back in their own time.

As it is, it's going to force some of the least confident young people to spend a couple of hours a week to feel bad at something.

For those kids, maths is already compulsory post-16, until they pass their GCSE (or functional skills if they got below grade 3).

Rishi is adding compulsory maths to the mix for pupils who passed their GCSE but who didn't opt to take Core Maths or A-level Maths.

Will this ever become policy though?

So much of what they announce never happens & i suspect this one will be no different.

I'm gutted to learn this. And shocked.

The ones doing functional skills the ones he should be focusing on, as well as encouraging more girls to do Physics and Further Mathematics at A and AS level.

as long as you have the subject knowledge, you can teach it
I disagree with this. I know I'm a strong teacher and have taught successfully out of my specialist subject, but I'd not be a very good maths teacher, or science.

I can cover lessons and I understand the subject knowledge, but I don't have the subject specific pedagogy to break mathematical concepts down in several ways to effectively differentiate, or to stretch the brightest. Whilst I'd have no problems creating a medium term plan and relying on external resources to support, it would be superficial compared to my colleagues who are maths specialists because they're the experts on structuring and sequencing the curriculum.

This is a tangent I know but it seems that each year that passes means the depth of knowledge that an experienced specialist has is overlooked. We're heading towards teaching as cover supervisors using centrally approved PowerPoints, which isn't good for pupils.

Part of my job is to train new teachers. Having subject knowledge and being able to teach are really not the same thing.

That one was a terrible example. Fortunately his others were better and you can see footballers taking out protractors all the time on match of the day. Oh wait…

Omg is the guy on the poster supposed to be calculating the angle of his free kick?

If he's trying to measure it he's on a hiding to nothing because his protractor is broken.

Would it be worth videoing a range of talented maths teachers who teach well and can demonstrate their ability to as @LolaSmiles puts it 'to break mathematical concepts down in several ways to effectively differentiate, or to stretch the brightest'. We have had a couple of amazing maths teachers. They seemed to have been able to demonstrate verbally and by action their faith in even those that struggled whilst challenging those with appeared to navigate maths with ease. I really believe the work has to start from primary to see real benefits posts 16.

Not really. You need to adapt to the class and students you have in front of you. You can’t do that via video to the masses.

It teaching was a desirable profession then you could use those teachers to mentor and develop teachers to hone those skills but not via videos.

Would it be worth videoing a range of talented maths teachers who teach well and can demonstrate their ability to as @LolaSmilesputs it 'to break mathematical concepts down in several ways to effectively differentiate, or to stretch the brightest'. We have had a couple of amazing maths teachers. They seemed to have been able to demonstrate verbally and by action their faith in even those that struggled whilst challenging those with appeared to navigate maths with ease. I really believe the work has to start from primary to see real benefits posts 16.
For me to be a strong maths teacher in the way I am in my specialist subject and related areas, I'd need to be a maths specialist with additional training in the pedagogy of teaching maths. I know what it has taken to become a highly skilled teacher in my area and that my strong colleagues in maths will have done the same in their subject area.

Watching a few CPD videos wouldn't cut it and to me downplays the complexity of teaching.

I really think that the skill and expertise of experienced specialists is undervalued.

If Sunak and others are serious about providing a high quality education in maths for all pupils, they need to be recruiting and retaining strong subject specialists with appropriate pedagogical skills.

Pigs will fly before that happens though, so it will be poorly considered policy, centralised resources, non specialist teachers or any adult who is willing to supervise, or edtech platforms. The quality of education for the students will come second.

Cross posted with you MrsHerculePoirot.
I totally agree with you.

This is the way teacher training and development is going and it just doesn't work.

I mean more as exemplar videos they can refer back to supplement their training rather than the primary source of teaching them. If they are not seeing this modelled in the classroom they will at least have somewhere to get inspiration from.

Seeing Mrs Thing teach maths to her class in her school is a bit like watching a pilot land a plane. It might show you the theory but it's not enough to improve your own skills. It's a start but it's far from enough.

I don't mean as a primary training material but as exemplar resources they can refer to if they are not seeing this modelled in the classroom. I know several people who have gone through teacher training, what they saw modelled did not reflect the teachers that they wanted to be. The stem for Sciences, very few of them are still in the profession now.

I think I'd rather settle for studies that have looked into this sort of thing, but I suppose we know what some people think of experts.

This is what lots of the new ECT materials are. Videos of teachers in carefully controlled environments modelling a given thing. Which is fine except for the fact that at any given time we're going to be doing more than one thing.
It's good in theory but won't always be that useful.