Maths Memos
ACME conference, 12 July 2016
24 June 2016
by
Alex Halliday
It is a great honour to chair the ACME
conference on Tuesday 12 July, my first major event with ACME
since I took on the role of Interim ACME Chair. The title of
the conference is Influences and impact: policies for
high-quality mathematics education. We hope to provide the
opportunity to discuss in a constructive and forward-looking
way the collaborative action needed to improve
mathematics education for all.
We are delighted to welcome Nick
Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools to the Royal
Society to give the opening plenary. A panel chaired
by Dr Simon Gallacher (Nuffield
Foundation) will look at some of the pressing policy issues in
mathematics education. We are sure to hear fascinating discussions
from panellists including Dan Abramson (King's
College London Mathematics School), Claire Dockar
(College of Teaching), Professor Terezinha Nunes
(University of Oxford) and Professor Adrian
Smith FRS (University of London).
Please get in touch by email or on Twitter using @ACMEmaths if you have
questions for our panellists. Questions submitted so far cover the
post-16 mathematics review, changes to the mathematics curriculum,
education research, teacher supply and more.
We also have a great range of workshops led by ACME
members, covering initial teacher education,
professional development, mathematics to 18 and primary assessment.
You may want to get up to speed on these issues before the
conference and our Maths Snapshots
are a great place to start!
Dr Vicky Neale (University
of Oxford) will round off the day with an engaging
mathematics keynote on prime numbers, which will remind us of why
mathematics is so important to all young people.
I look forward to meeting many of you there. Do sign
up if you haven't already. If you cannot make it on the
day, a conference report will be published. The 2015
conference Mathematically Thinking, at which I
gave the opening speech, was a really insightful day
and this conference looks set to be equally engaging. The conference
report will give you a flavour of the day.