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This programme is for teachers in schools that have previously engaged with a Secondary Teaching for Mastery Programme or Work Group. This includes all schools which have previously engaged with a Development Work Group and schools that have had a Secondary Mastery Specialist trained.

This work group aims to give time to consider strategies to encourage mathematical thinking, with a particular focus on problem solving and a challenge to think about what progression in problem solving looks like.

Through this work group we’ll explore various ideas, approaches and rich and/or engaging tasks. We'll look at how we pitch these to students and consider some teacher actions that go with them so that mathematical thinking and problem solving are supported and embedded in students’ mathematical experiences. 

The focus in our meetings will be on looking at and discussing some strategies to help students learn to solve problems, and we will consider how we make problem solving accessible for all students. There will be some time in the sessions set aside for collaborative planning, and gap tasks to build on the plannings.

We’ll then try out some of the ideas in the classroom, and in later sessions reflect on their effectiveness and the pedagogical strategies used to make them effective.

Ari has a pile of cookies and a pile of boxes.  When he puts seven cookies in each box, he has one empty box left over.  When he puts six cookies in each box, he uses all the boxes but has one cookie left over.   How many cookies did Ari have?