I really welcome the recent report from the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum review. The report, published on 19th Dec 2011, identifies ten salient dimensions that contribute to 'high expectations for all'. The tenth of these is ‘Engagement of parents and carers in authentic learning’. They say, 'The point here is those in a position to support pupil learning should have direct access to tangible information on which to base their contribution.' They use the summary work of Martin Hughes as their source reference.
Martin was my supervisor at the University of Bristol for my PhD research on parents who help their children with mathematics. One of the major findings from my research is that parents are actually far more involved and interested in their children's mathematics education than had previously been acknowledged. They are also keen to find advice on how to help support their children's maths but, for various reasons, often don't take up the help offered by schools.
My books, Help Your Child with Numeracy: Age 3 - 7 (2007), and Age 7 - 11 (2009), use the insights gained from my PhD, as well as my current experiences as a practising senior school teacher of mathematics, to try to bridge that gap and give help and support to parents, and are a very good example of the sort of ‘tangible information’ that parents need to help support their children's mathematical learning.
As a result of the report, the implementation of the new National Curriculum has been put back to Sept 2014. Most of the content of my books is timeless – things that will be helpful whatever the curriculum is – but it’s nice to know that even where references to the National Curriculum are unavoidable, even those parts are still current for at least the next two and a half years!
In particular, my books are still the only ones on the market which look in depth at the key issue of the two main written methods of subtraction. This is something that I know bothers many parents, which is why I included it in both books. So you didn’t know that there is more than one way to do a subtraction on paper? Take the simple test on my website (www.maths4mumsanddads.co.uk – there’s a ‘TAKE THE TEST’ button on the home page). You’ll also find, after the test, a film clip of me explaining the two methods. Then you can amaze your friends and advise the parents of the children in your class.
Guest post by Dr Rosemary Russell, mathematics teacher at St. Peter’s School Voluntary Academy, Bournemouth, UK.
Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)
