What makes an excellent teacher of mathematics? How can Australia grow teaching expertise and student engagement in maths?

It was these questions that guided my latest research report for Pivot Professional Learning, undertaken with Dr Lyndon Walker and Mike Witter in association with the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, which was launched today.

Our study explored key characteristics of 986 teachers (including qualifications, beliefs, experience) alongside the learning experiences of their students, using nearly 28,000 student perception surveys, following up with qualitative interviews to explore patterns and puzzles. It was the first research to combine these key data sets on teacher voice and student voice.

We found that:

  • Excellent maths teachers can be early or advanced in their teaching careers, male or female, and possess a variety of qualifications, from a primary teaching degree with specialist post-graduate or bridging qualifications in maths, to PhDs. 

  • Maths-specific professional learning (PL) and courses enhance teachers’ confidence but don’t always correlate with higher student learning experiences. This suggests PL is not always relevant to teachers’ or students’ needs and priorities, and that teachers need more time to embed, refine and share their PL lessons.

  • Strong connections with students are a critical foundation for effective teaching practices and positive student learning and maths engagement. This connection involves mutual respect, high expectations and knowing how to stretch and support each student.

  • Mathematics expertise (deep mathematical content knowledge) and teaching expertise (deep pedagogical knowledge) are different skills and that excellent maths teaching requires both. 

These findings are already making an impact in education and media, including a feature article in the Sydney Morning Herald and television interview on ABCNews24.

Want to know more? Well, you can:

  1. Join free Pivot webinar I’m hosting with co-author Mike Witter on Tuesday 26 November 8-9pm (free, but you need to register here);

  2. Read our full report here; or

  3. Get in touch! I’d be delighted to take you through the findings and how they might connect with your work.