Teacher education and development
See here for more about ACME's
work on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and the recent
report on high-quality ITE for teachers of mathematics.
Teacher education does not end with ITE. ACME believes that all
teachers of mathematics have an entitlement and a responsibility to
professional development throughout their careers. Policy advice
can be found in ACME's 2013 professional development report, Empowering Teachers: Success for
Learners.
What is the issue?
Some of the issues have been set out in ACME's
Maths Snapshot on teacher education and development.
- There is a shortage of appropriately qualified teachers of
mathematics.
- Different routes into teaching contain different quantity and
quality of mathematics-specific training.
- There is no overarching, long-term strategy for career-long
professional development.
What does ACME advise?
ACME believes that all students should receive high quality
mathematics teaching from teachers who are themselves professional
learners. A world-class education system needs to empower its
teachers by nurturing a culture of professional development. All
teachers should be entitled to, and have responsibility for,
continuing to update their skills and subject expertise throughout
their career.
There are not enough specialist
teachers of maths in primary, secondary and further
education.
There is an urgent need to:
- attract more high-quality maths teachers into all sectors
- train all teachers to teach maths more effectively
- support teachers through high-quality, career-long professional
learning and provide career opportunities for maths teachers to
develop their knowledge and skills
- retain a greater proportion of the best teachers in
classrooms.
