How can the maths hub 'enhanced support' package benefit a secondary school
Enhanced Support is available to any school who is participating in a Teaching for Mastery Work Group (Primary or Secondary), the Secondary Maths Subject Leaders Community, or the Securing Foundations at Year 7 project. Schools can request ‘enhanced support’ through their Maths Hub if they feel they need additional expert input to meet the intended outcomes of the work group, community or project they are involved in.
Schools that request enhanced support are paired up with an experienced mastery specialist who will work with the school for up to 3 days throughout the academic year on an agreed area of focus. The format of the support is flexible and is mutually agreed by the mastery specialist and the school leadership.
Read on to find out how a secondary school benefitted from the enhanced support package.
Why did the department request enhanced support from the Maths Hub?
The school had received an Ofsted rating of ‘requires improvement’ in May 2023, and the summary report emphasised the need for more consistent teaching and enhanced student outcomes across all subjects. The department and school experienced high staff turnover and difficulties in recruiting new staff. The Head of Department, relatively new to the post, reported that they were experiencing difficulties getting the team to engage in Maths Hub work groups and was struggling with getting any Teaching for Mastery initiatives to ‘stick’, despite the school being in the ‘Sustaining’ phase of the programme.
How was the enhanced support structured?
The Assistant Maths Hub Lead provided the enhanced support in this case, since they were based at a school within the same multi-academy trust. They supported the Head of Department in action planning for implementing one or two key Teaching for Mastery initiatives and came up with ways to get the whole team on board. The meetings were done face-to-face in the enhanced support school, so that the Assistant Maths Hub Lead could get a feel for the running of the department and offer advice and guidance where needed. On top of this, members of the team attended some of the ‘reboot Sustaining’ online workshops which explored the 5 Big Ideas of Teaching for Mastery in detail. This helped to get key members of the team onboard and develop their understanding of what the Head of Department was working towards. Additionally, the Maths MAT Lead came along to departmental meetings and provided support by working with some of the members of the team who were more resistant to change. It was really important to ensure that all stakeholders were aligned, and this added to the success.
What did you focus on throughout the enhanced support?
It was mutually agreed between the Head of Department and the Assistant Maths Hub Lead that it was important to start with a small initiative when trying to implement change with a clearly specified focus. This focus was the pedagogy around Year 7 Directed Number and using zero pairs. By focusing on small, continual changes over time, the enhanced support was effective as it the change in pedagogy around directed number became easier to embed and sustain. The underpinning principles of the EEF’s implementation guidance around careful action planning for one or two key ‘active ingredients’ that will contribute to an overall objective guided the enhanced support in this case and clear success was seen. All of the team now have a consistent approach to teaching directed number in year 7 which aligns with the principles of Teaching for Mastery. The Head of Department now feels able to stick to these principles of implementation as he continues to lead further change.
How have the work groups impacted students in your school?
The time engaging and participating with Maths Hub Work Groups has enabled the department to develop different ways of supporting students. Rather than the traditional ‘differentiation’ which often left some students behind, the department have now developed tools to challenge high attaining students whilst supporting lower attaining students. The department have moved towards mixed attainment grouping as they feel better equipped to support individual needs within lessons.
How have the work groups impacted departmental practice, such as planning?
The department use regular meeting time to share best practice, develop sequences of work collaboratively and focus on aspects that help to develop learning and teaching such as misconceptions. Following a Maths Hub session, individual teachers trial new ideas across different classes and then they come back together as a team to review and refine before implementing new approaches more consistently across the department. It’s important to ensure that the professional development offered by the Maths Hub has a wider impact than just the participating teachers and it seems that this model of try-review-refine used in the department is an effective way of upskilling all teachers and getting all on board with the principles of Teaching for Mastery.