Looking forward to 2025

Currently the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) are offering an amazing opportunity to apply for funding for Professional Learning (PL) projects catered to your own school context.  This initiative is designed to support maths education in disadvantaged schools. If your school is selected, the projects will begin in Term 1, 2025.

Applications close on the 30th of September, 2024, so you have got time to think about your application, but I wanted to use this blog to get the ball rolling, tell you a little more about the grants, and suggest how I could be of support to your school.

Through 'Focus on Maths', schools (or clusters of schools in a region) are able to apply for grants between $2,000 and $30,000 for a PL related project.

The project needs to be based around addressing one clear issue facing maths teaching in your school/cluster.

While any school in Australia can apply, preference is given to:

• Rural and Regional schools
• Schools with an ICSEA value of less than 1000
• Schools with significant numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander students
• Schools with Teachers who lack confidence in Maths

To apply for the grant there is a simple form to fill in (there are great sample applications provided on the AAMT website to guide you in this process).

You are asked a series of general questions about your school (location, population, school ICSEA value etc.) and then you are asked to name and provide a short summary of the proposed project.

The project can be from one term, up to one year in length.

I am sharing this information for two reasons.

1. I think it is an amazing opportunity for schools to be able to access high quality PL and develop the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of teachers in schools across Australia.

2. I wanted to provide you with some examples of projects and issues I have helped schools and clusters with over the past couple of years, in case they also sound like an area of need for you.

Common Issues Facing Schools/Teachers

-Lack of student and teacher understanding in place value leading to problems in other areas such as additive and multiplicative thinking.

- Teachers looking for support to develop their confidence and understanding around the latest research and practical ideas related to highly effective teaching in Number (For example: Early Number, Place Value, Additive Thinking, Multiplicative Thinking, Fractions and Decimals)

- Students' lack of fluency in Number impacting their ability to problem solve and readily access more challenging maths concepts.

- Teachers lacking understanding of how to use assessment data to guide their instruction.

If any of the above issues sound familiar, I will now suggest some ways I have helped schools address these problems.

Strategic Guidance

This involves working on an ongoing basis with your school (over the course of the year) to support you in addressing the issue. In my Strategic Guidance package, I run two face-to-face PL days (usually one in Term 1, and one in Term 3), have termly online meetings to discuss 'potholes and progress' and have a day where I model/coach on site in your classrooms. I love this program as I really get down to the nuts and bolts of helping schools move forward in their practice.

One-Off PL
A one-off PL day where I come in and focus on an area of need (for example developing a whole school approach to place value) is a great way to 'kick start' teacher confidence and engagement at your school. This, paired with 12 months access to my NTA online portal for your teachers and numeracy leader, provides year long mentoring and cumulatively develops the PCK of your staff.

Clusters of Schools
You may like to come together with local schools to apply for 'Focus on Maths' funding. I have worked with many clusters of schools and led them systematically through using high-quality assessment to support teachers in their understanding and teaching of place value. This includes exploring my Pre-PVAT and PVAT assessments (gathering, analysing and using data to guide instruction). This may involve all staff from a few sites, or a selection of staff from your school, working alongside other schools in your area towards a common goal. This PL includes online modules, face to face sessions held over 2 days and mentoring for school leaders.

Summary

It is my hope that by sharing some of the projects I have worked on with schools and clusters, it will encourage you to think about projects that would benefit the teachers at your school, and if you are eligible, apply for AAMT funding.

If you need any assistance or further information on any of these projects please reach out and I can assist you with your application (costing, wording etc.) or, of course, if you are interested in working with me directly on any of these projects in 2025, please reach out!

You can find out more about the funding and apply through the AAMT website here.

Have a great week!
Ange 🎓🎲

P.S. You can download the PDF version of this blog to print or share with colleagues here.