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#CfEM Live – Update

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Date03 Aug 2020
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touchconsulting Ltd is one of the delivery partners working with the Education and Training Foundation on the DfE funded Centres for Excellence in Maths (CfEM) programme. CfEM is a national improvement project designed to deliver a step change in maths teaching up to Level 2 across the Education and Training Sector. You can read more about the project on the ETF website.

CfEM Programme

The national CfEM programme contains several strands including:
  • four practitioner guides; contextualisation, data and technology, mastery & motivation and engagement
  • national trials involving practitioners across the 21 CfEM and their partners testing, discussing and reflecting on specific teaching and learning approaches related to one of the four themes
  • small-scale action research rooted in one of the four themes above

Action Research

Twenty-one CfEM worked on 29 small-scale action research questions in the project’s first year (2019-2020). touchconsulting Ltd worked with the University of Nottingham to develop a three-day, part residential, ‘CfEM Action Research Professional Development Programme’ to support action research groups (ARGs) across England to design and carry out collaborative action research. 101 maths teachers participated during 2019-2020, and it looks like the numbers are set to double for 2020-2021! Although it will be an online, blended programme.

Celebrations

As we went into lockdown the team were determined all ARGs would get the opportunity to share their action research findings with peers and #CfEMLive was borne. We went from face-to-face planned events to a series of four online events which kept me busy during the early days of lockdown ‘shock’, and resulted in 28 ARGs sharing their findings to an audience of over 330 + peers. #CfEMLive was joyous. Practitioners came together and formed a vibrant maths community, expertly facilitated by my colleague Lou Mycroft. By going online we were able to reach a much wider audience than originally planned. Another bonus is we have 28 video-presentations to share with you; each exploring the journey ARGs undertook as they pursued inquires. ARG members share thought provoking, nuanced findings and recommendations. The Education and Training Foundation will be releasing these very soon.

Together, at each of the #CfEMLive events, we created the conditions for appreciation, celebration and reflection.

Don’t take our word for it though – browse some of the reflections from the four events below.

The quote below from a participant at the #CfEMLive4 brings our journey full circle.
I’ll be passing on this AR to trainee teachers in Sept so that they know that there is a strong community of teachers working to find solutions to these common issues for maths teachers. This body of new knowledge is a very valuable asset to us all.

We started our AR CPD travels way back in November/December 2020 exploring how participants were embarking on a journey to create localised post-16 GCSE maths resit knowledge, generated from practice-evidence and research-evidence. I’m confident, although many didn’t quite believe it when we first started, that’s exactly where we have firmly ended in Summer 2020 – a body of new GCSE resit knowledge – on topics as diverse as maths coaches, augmented reality, maths specific vocabulary for ESOL learners and much, much more.

It’s not been easy for practitioner-researchers as they have juggled their day jobs alongside their action research projects and coped with COVID-19 related disruptions but I’m sure you will agree, once you have watched their brilliant presentations, how awesome they are!

Enjoy watching their video-presentations when they are out.

Joss Kang
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