Wright, P; (2018) Visible Maths Pedagogy Project: Report from Year 1. Visible Maths Pedagogy research project: London, UK.

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Abstract

The Visible Maths Pedagogy Project involved an academic researcher (AR) and two teacher researchers (TRs) working collaboratively to develop classroom practice. All three researchers share an interest in developing progressive teaching approaches and exploring issues of equity in mathematics classrooms. The project was based in Stoke Newington School, which is an Inner London school with 29% (above national average) of students designated as ‘Pupil Premium’ (a measure of socio-economic disadvantage) in 2016- 17. The school had identified black Afro-Caribbean boys as an underachieving group. The school’s mathematics department had recently incorporated a series of problem-solving activities into its scheme of work and had taken a decision to move away from a rigid setting structure. The school had a focus on developing ‘oracy’, which in the mathematics department included encouraging students to express their reasoning through ‘think, pair, share’ strategies. The mathematics department introduced mixed attainment groupings in mathematics classes across Year 7 in 2017-18, with plans to extend this to Years 8 and 9 in subsequent years. The department were in the process of developing their scheme of work for Year 7 and met regularly to collaboratively plan lessons. The focus of the project was to develop strategies teachers can use to make their pedagogy more visible, i.e. to help all pupils recognise their intentions as teachers, when adopting progressive approaches to teaching secondary mathematics. In so doing, the project aimed to explore strategies that may be effective in reducing the large gaps in mathematics achievement existing between children from different socioeconomic groups. The initial research questions were: • Which teaching strategies are successful in helping students develop their ability to decipher the recognition and realisation rules of the mathematics classroom? • What impact do these strategies have on students’ mathematical achievement and engagement, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds? This was a small-scale unfunded research project which served as a pilot study for a potentially larger-scale project. It provided an opportunity to try out and evaluate various research tools, with a view to incorporating these into the research design for a larger-scale future project. These included maintaining research journals, conducting peer observations, surveys and interviews of students and using video recordings of lessons to stimulate a critical reflection on practice (video-stimulated reflection).

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