Research School Network: Professional development in maths – why I always start with the ​‘why’ Exploring professional development for maths teachers

Mark Robson has been involved in secondary school maths education for 17 years. He graduated from the NCETM’s Mastery Programme in 2019, culminating in a trip to Shanghai on the UK Shanghai Exchange Programme. Shanghai or anywhere, Mark is always on the look-out for interesting ways to present maths to young people. In his current role as one of the LLME for Boolean Maths Hub, he provides lots of professional development around Teaching for Mastery and is always seeking interesting ways to get maths educators to think about their own pedagogy. In summary, he is quite inquisitive and likes to promote this in others.

People don’t move without a why.

There is a reason to every action we take in this world. If you don’t give a person a reason to change; they won’t change. Recommendation one from the EEF’s recently updated Implementation Guidance Report clearly states the importance of uniting around a shared mission.

I recently reflected on this advice after running lots of professional development (PD) events that candidates engaged in and thoroughly enjoyed, but ultimately saw few people significantly alter their practice in the long-term.

The agenda to past PD sessions would have read:

- Representations in the teaching of sequences (30 min)

- Groups to develop representations that we will use for solving equations (30 min)

Today’s agenda reads:

- Why are we talking about representations? (15 min)

- Representations in the teaching of sequences (20 min)

- Groups to develop representations that we will use for solving equations (25 min)

So, my PD sessions now start with, ​“Before I show you what this is, I need to convince you that this is worth doing”.

I recently ran a maths-specific PD session about ​‘The use of visual representations in mathematics’. Here is one of my reasons as to why this needs to be done.

In the same context, here is my reason number two.

They are both compelling reasons that will no doubt cause some to act. However, they are my ideas. My reasons as to why you should do as I say today. In many of my PD sessions the delegates are meeting me for the first time and perhaps the only ever time. They are making judgements about me and my credibility from the second they lay eyes on me, let alone the moments when I start talking. This is where the research evidence comes in. I need to signpost colleagues to the growing evidence base, the findings from high-quality research, occasionally referred to as ​‘best bets’. I based this particular training around Recommendation two from the EEF’s ​‘Improving Mathematics in Key Stage Two and Three’ guidance report.

So, I can now say, ​“Not only am I telling you that there is a compelling reason to do this; some of the most detailed research into maths education in recent years is telling us to take action”.

​“When we delve further into that report, we find more detailed reasons as to why we need to do this”.

Before any PD session I know that I know that my message is valid and important for the education of young people but, in the eyes of the delegates, the research evidence adds weight and credibility to my message. It adds an extra level of motivation around the why we need to do this as practitioners.

To find out more about the evidence-informed professional development on offer for maths teachers, check with the Research Schools Network here or find your local Maths Hub here.