Secondary Programmes 2024-25

Our Secondary Mastery Specialist programme is an opportunity for secondary teachers to become leaders in teaching mastery in mathematics. The Mastery Specialist programme is for those maths teachers who want to become an expert in teaching for mastery and work towards supporting other schools.

The programme is supported by fully funded training from Maths Hubs and NCETM experts.

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Introduce teaching for mastery across your department.

What is involved?

Being part of the Secondary Teaching for Mastery Development Programme will give you and your school chance to develop your whole maths department, and have an impact on the students you teach.

Secondary maths teachers whose schools want to introduce teaching for mastery can nominate two teachers (‘Mastery Advocates’) to join a Work Group. Mastery Advocates then form part of a locally-based group of teachers who meet regularly to develop professional knowledge and expertise and receive bespoke support.

Teachers will collaborate with colleagues from local schools, and get support and guidance from a Secondary Mastery Specialist, to introduce and embed teaching for mastery in their department.

What is the time commitment?

Secondary schools and maths departments that want to introduce and develop teaching for mastery can join the Work Group and should nominate two teachers as Mastery Advocates.

Mastery Advocates need the full support of the head of department and headteacher, and mechanisms must be in place to enable department-wide development and change to happen over an extended timeframe.

Between the two Advocates, a minimum of 10 days’ work is expected in order to understand teaching for mastery and to develop the principles within their teaching.

After the year-long programme, Teaching for Mastery Development schools are expected to continue to engage with the Teaching for Mastery Embedding and Sustaining programme offered in 2025-26 and beyond.

Find out more about teaching for mastery here >

Enhanced support for maths departments in their second year of introducing teaching for mastery.

What is involved?

Secondary Teaching for Mastery Embedding Year Support is available for those departments who participated in the previous year’s Secondary Teaching for Mastery Development Work Group, and who are beginning to embed their work on teaching for mastery. Mastery Advocates (designated previously in the Development Work Group) will work closely with an assigned Mastery Specialist to help them embed teaching for mastery approaches across the whole department. Specialists will provide three days of bespoke support tailored to each school.

The focus will be on constructing or refining a coherent development plan and supporting and leading the whole department in realising the aims of that development plan. The school will also be part of a Secondary Teaching for Mastery Sustaining Work Group with other schools.

What is the time commitment?

Mastery Advocates should be available to work with the Secondary Mastery Specialist for the equivalent of three days. At times it will be beneficial for one or both of the Advocates, together with the head of department, to collaborate with the Specialist. Additionally, Advocates will need to work with others within their department during their usual departmental PD time.

After the year-long programme, Teaching for Mastery Embedding schools are expected to continue to engage with the Teaching for Mastery Sustaining programme offered in 2025-26 and beyond.

A vibrant professional learning community to reflect upon and develop mastery approaches.

What is involved?

These Work Groups are for all departments that have previously participated in Mastery Development Work Groups and all Cohort 1-8 Mastery Specialist Departments. The two lead participants continue to be Advocates who have participated in a Development Work Group and key teachers from a Mastery Specialist’s department, but particular Work Group sessions may sometimes be joined by participants’ departmental colleagues.

What is the time commitment?

The Lead participants will be expected to attend all workshops.

After the year-long programme, Teaching for Mastery Sustaining schools are expected to continue to engage with the Teaching for Mastery Sustaining programme offered by NNW Maths Hub.

More information on our Teaching for Mastery Sustaining foci for 2024-25 will be shared during the summer term of 2024.

Develop mathematical subject knowledge and understand the pedagogy that underpins the teaching of it.

What is involved?

Participants will be those identified as Early Career Teachers – teachers in their first or second year of teaching.

Whilst recognising the requirements of the Early Career Framework, this programme provides a subject-specific

focus for the ECT that enhances the statutory offer, with a focus on the teaching of maths. This is situated in the context of two core mathematical concepts: Multiplicative reasoning, and Sequences and graphical representations.

The programme will build on the knowledge gained during initial teacher training. It focuses, for two years, on the key elements of observing learning, task design, lesson design and adapting teaching.

What is the time commitment?

Participants will attend the equivalent of four days, where they will collaboratively work on maths tasks facilitated by Cohort Leads.

There is opportunity for structured conversations to unpick the maths, the pedagogy modelled within sessions, misconceptions that students have, and how the approaches can be transferred to the participants’ classrooms.

Between sessions, participants contribute to their online community, complete school-based tasks, and share their reflections through discussions with peers (including their mentors).

Develop mathematical subject knowledge and understand the pedagogy that underpins the teaching of it.

What is involved?

This project is designed to support non-specialist teachers teaching maths in a secondary school in developing specialist knowledge for teaching mathematics, thus enabling them to understand, teach and support students in maths in the classroom.

This programme is for non-specialist teachers of maths in state-funded schools in England who fit the following definition:

“A non-specialist teacher of mathematics is a teacher in a state-funded school or college that is currently teaching some mathematics or has commitment from a headteacher/executive head to teach some mathematics within the next year, who has not undertaken Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in mathematics.”

This programme has 18 core sessions (an introductory session then 17 sessions exploring each of the NCETM KS3 core concepts), and is designed to be the equivalent of six days.

What is the time commitment?

Participants will attend the equivalent of six days, where they will collaboratively work on maths tasks facilitated by Cohort Leads.

There is opportunity for structured conversations to unpick the maths, the pedagogy modelled within sessions, misconceptions that students have, and how the approaches can be transferred to the participants’ classrooms.

Between sessions, participants contribute to their online community, complete school-based tasks, and share their reflections through discussions with peers

Professional development designed specifically for secondary heads of maths.

What is involved?

This project provides an opportunity for participants to deepen their understanding of teaching approaches, of their wider roles, and of their capacity with their colleagues to transform secondary maths learning.

They will work collaboratively with other subject leaders, discuss developments and engage with research, and use this experience to inform their work in leading and developing maths education in school.

What is the time commitment?

Participants and their schools are expected to commit to three days of workshops plus additional work in school.

This will include hub-based meetings and workshops (which may be a mix of face-to-face and online), school-based tasks, and participation in an online community.

Professional development to support those leading maths across multiple schools

What is involved?

The project is for those who lead maths across multiple schools within a MAT, including at least one secondary school. This includes MAT maths leads who are continuing from previous years, and new participants.

Now in its fourth year, this project supports those who lead maths across multiple schools within a MAT.

Participants will also develop their role as a leader of system change, curriculum change, and teacher professional development.

New participants will complete a bespoke programme, and those continuing the project will develop their work together as a community. There will be opportunities for new and continuing participants to work together, so all can benefit from central provision and the opportunity for practice exchange with peers.

What is the time commitment?

Participants need to be supported by their MATs to be released to attend three national face-to-face days across the academic year.

Participants are also expected to take part in any inter-sessional learning that supports their work on the programme to develop themselves and others.

In addition, there is an active and supportive online community of MAT leads on this project; it is hoped that participants will contribute.

Identify and meet the needs of students continuing L2 study at post-16

What is involved?

This is for teachers whose students will study Level 2 maths across secondary and post-16. Teachers of Years 10 and 11, and of post-16 GCSE Maths resit and/or Functional Skills Maths, will develop ways to support students who need to study maths beyond age 16 to achieve a L2 qualification.

Work Groups will focus on developing transferable teaching techniques aligned to teaching for mastery.

What is the time commitment?

Participants will attend three full-day workshops and complete practice-based tasks between sessions.

Strengthen the transition from primary to secondary school.

What is involved?

The project is for those who teach and/or have responsibility for the curriculum in Years 5-8. Participants may be subject leaders or teachers with responsibility for transition in a school. They need to be supported to try out different tasks with their students and be released to attend three full-day workshops.

Work Groups in this project focus on curriculum and pedagogical continuity over Years 5 to 8. Participants will collaborate with colleagues from across KS2 and KS3, working on mathematical tasks together and reflecting on the resulting activity and learning.

What is the time commitment?

Participants are expected to attend the equivalent of three full days of workshops, and to complete school-based tasks between sessions.

Work Group Leads aim to hold sessions in both KS2 and KS3 settings, affording opportunities to see the tasks in different classroom contexts.

Develop improved teaching approaches for Core Maths.

What is involved?

• This programme is for teachers who are in the first two years of teaching Core Maths and are teaching a Core Maths class during the academic year 2024/25.
• This programme supports teachers in developing specialist knowledge for teaching Core Maths and increases their confidence in teaching the course. The programme forms part of the overall Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) and Maths Hubs Core Maths professional development offer.
• Principal focus is on Core Maths subject knowledge and pedagogy and the programme will be based on these six key themes: Applying Fermi estimation and modelling; Exploring statistics; Making sense of finance; Using the pre-release materials; Developing critical analysis, and Creating contextualised activities.

What is the time commitment?

Teachers are expected to attend all programme sessions (the equivalent of three days), explore and engage with the bespoke resources of the programme, and to implement practice-based activities in between sessions to enable reflection on the pedagogical approaches they are trialling.

Develop mathematical subject knowledge and understand the pedagogy that underpins the teaching of it

What is involved?

This is for teaching assistants who work predominantly with students in the KS3 maths classroom or who lead intervention sessions with groups of students. Participants’ schools should already be engaged with a Teaching for Mastery Work Group, and this programme will complement this provision.

This programme is designed to improve the subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge for all TAs supporting the learning of secondary maths.

Participants will focus on using precise mathematical language, representations, and reasoning within the topics: addition and subtraction; multiplication and division; fractions; ratio and proportion. They will also carry out follow-up tasks in school to enable practice transfer to the classroom. The programme will take place over the equivalent of four days; participants must attend all sessions.