Continuing Professional Development for Teacher of Mathematics

Provided by the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME), this resource was written in 2002. It includes recommendations on the steps to be taken, at that time, to raise the quality of mathematical provision in schools. Concerns regarding the poor uptake of students continuing to study mathematics at Post 16, the reduced numbers qualifying for Higher Education courses in numerate disciplines and the lack of appropriately qualified mathematics teachers led ACME to recommend that: *government should initiate urgently the process of developing and funding a long-term programme of CPD for teachers of mathematics that can meet their needs at various stages of their careers. *CPD for teachers of mathematics should contain an element of broadening and deepening of mathematical knowledge. *part of any CPD programme should be structured so as to allow opportunities to relate theory to practice in the classroom. *teachers of mathematics should be expected to engage in CPD throughout their working careers. *teachers of mathematics must be given an allocation of time and resources to enable coherent planning and development to take place at an institutional level. *a network of Local Mathematics Centres (LMCs) should be developed to encourage the growth of a community of teachers of mathematics across all phases and to provide a source of expert advice, resources and information. *a National Academy for Teachers of Mathematics should be established to have a strategic overview of CPD at a national level and to coordinate its operation locally. *some CPD funding should be made available directly to teachers of mathematics to enable them to undertake substantial professional development according to their individual needs and goals.