A2 Further Maths, How many hours teaching per week?

[JustGettingByMum]

That's it really.

DS1 just starting A2 FM and the timetabled lessons are 40% less than for his other subjects. So I would like to get some views on whether this will still be ok?

Or is this quite typical?

Views and comments gratefully accepted as I think I may need to go and speak to the school but would like know what other schools do before I go charging in.

BTW this is the first year the school has offered FM to A2 so no previous experience to fall back on.

I did it 20 years ago and it was similar to how you describe - we definitely got fewer lessons than for other subjects, just 3 hours per week I think. I still managed an A though

It depends on each school - some offer Maths and Further Maths as two full options with the same teaching time as any other subjects and others offer them as a combination with less teaching time. DD2 has the full 5 hours each for Maths and Further Maths and so did DH 25 years ago!

Thanks

DS1 is being offered 3 hours pw for FM. and 5 hrs pw for Maths. Offered as 2 separate subjects.

If it was 8 hours with teaching covering both Maths and Further Maths combined then that would be ok but I would think 3 hours a week wouldn't be enough to cover the work in further maths.

Do you know what modules your DS will be doing JGBMum? DD2 is doing Statistics 2, Further Pure 3 and Mechanics 3 (rather her than me!). They will comfortably get through S2 for January so they are spending one lesson a week keeping Mechanics ticking over. Doing two modules between Jan and May in 3 hours would be hard work unless they are set lots of homework.

Ds is doing AS maths + f. maths this year and has 25% less timetabled time for f.maths than other subjects and I understand the timetable will stay the same next year for A2. From what I've heard f. maths + maths isn't quite as difficult as two other subjects at A level if you are mathematically inclined (and realistically you're unlikely to be doing f. maths unless you are mathematically inclined).

So 40% is relatively a bit low, but it should be OK - I imagine the teachers will set more homework to compensate for the reduced teaching time. Eons ago when I did f. maths A level I remember spending most of the lessons just working through the book - the teacher only showed up occasionally so the work could easily have been done at home with fewer lessons.

It is unfait and wrong but happens too often. FM often will get less teaching hours than other alevels. It is justified by the small numbers. This is wrong as there ae often equally smal numbers doing other subjects but they get their full allowance of lessons. There will have to be more homework to cover the material involved. You could try making a fuss and asking about numbers in classes for all subjects but unlikely to get anywhere for this year - may get more hours for A2!

Thanks for the replies.

Webwiz- not sure of his modules, will check tonight and let you know.

mnis... - unfortunately this is the A2.

Modules are FP2, S2 and D2

JGBMum I don't think S2 and D2 are particularly taxing for a good mathematician although some people find Decision maths a bit weird. I'm not sure about FP2 though I think it is lots of little topics. DD2's teacher said FP3 is easier but then she has the joy of Mechanics 3 to balance it out!

I would ask your DS's school how they plan to cover the work - doing one module this term won't be a problem but it might get a bit rushed next year.

webwiz - good advice thank you. I think we will need to talk the Maths HoD and hopefully get some reassurance.

Have asked my mum who is a retired maths teacher (retired last year). She says she thinks it should be similar time for maths and further maths.

Is your DS in year 12 or 13? She is wondering if he has done FP1 or not. She also says there are some modules that can be maths or further maths depending on other modules you have done.

I did FM 16 years ago now (and my mum and dad taught me - my dad was HoD :)). We had the same time for both maths and fm

Hi Noah, he's in Y13 and already has FP1, D1 and S1. D1 was a nightmare, he liked FP1 best (got 100% )

Mmm DD2 will be doing D1 in normal maths but they've changed the teachers this year (last years two maths teacher were inexperienced and hadn't taught AS maths before so there were lots of confusing explanations and the syllabus wasn't finished before the summer exams). The two further maths teachers have taken over the A2 maths class as well now and so hopefully they will be able to explain it properly.

From what I've been told, Decision Maths really suits those students who are very logical,such as computer programmer types. DS1 is more about understanding why it works/happens etc and although he thought he had done well, he was constantly making silly errors that brought his grade down.

That might be ok then as DD2 is Little Miss Logical!