Continued Professional Development (CPD)
National Centre for Excellence of the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM)
ACME will continue to work together with Professor Celia Hoyles, the Director of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and other key stakeholders of the NCETM (and will continue to be represented on an advisory group) to help to shape the strategic direction of the NCETM. An initial challenge for the NCETM will be to ensure there is a consistently high quality of mathematics teaching in schools and Further Education colleges by coordinating, at a strategic level, the current diverse approaches to mathematics Continuing Professional Development.
Following extensive consultation, ACME submitted a report to DCSF in May 2005 on a feasibility study of a high quality, localised CPD infrastructure for teachers of mathematics. The report highlighted the need for the NCETM to take a strategic lead in ensuring that high quality mathematics CPD courses are available throughout the English regions – this process would be aided by the establishment of Regional Mathematics Centres to act as co-ordinating hubs between the NCETM and local networks.
Background
On 9 December 2004 Charles Clarke MP, then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, announced £15m funding over 3 years for the new NCETM and that an outcome of the tendering process would be made by Summer 2005. In its report on 'Continuing Professional Development for Teachers of Mathematics' published in December 2002, ACME had recommended the establishment of a National Academy for Teachers of Mathematics, to have a "strategic overview of CPD at a national level and to co-ordinate its operation locally".
Continuing Professional Development for teachers of mathematics Report December 2002 (413 kb)
Summary of Continuing Professional Development for teachers of mathematics Report December 2002 (106 kb)
ACME worked closely with the Post14 Mathematics Inquiry which reported back to the Government on a recommended structure for the NCETM. ACME had an active input into this, ensuring that the mathematics community was fully consulted on the final proposals and that any synergies between the NCETM, its local infrastructure and the national network of Science Learning Centres would be fully exploited.
A report on a Mathematics CPD Stakeholder Conference November 2004 (69 kb)
