Liz

It's created a buzz about mathematics, not just in our faculty, but in the school, in the community. People are talking about mathematics.

Helen

There's an actual love of learning going on in those classrooms now that's been generated through the pedagogy that the Maths Growth Team have instilled across our maths teachers.

Liz

We are changing mindsets. I think it's really in such a short time been remarkable the conversations around mathematics.

Eddie

The Mathematics Growth Team is a professional learning initiative that's all about supporting teachers to take evidence-based practices and implement them in the classroom.

Thomas

Sometimes they are formalised professional learning workshops in timetabled slots within the school day. Other times it's team teaching and working with classroom teachers, trialling new resources, trialling new activities, being able to mentor individual teachers on a one-on-one basis.

Helen

Part of the strength in what they've brought to our school is the relationships they've been able to form and the rapport that they've built with staff and students. Very quickly they developed trust within the faculty and the wider school, and when people have trust and respect, that's where true growth and learning occur.

Thomas

Teachers are always looking to improve their practice and as part of a trainer role we get to work with them to develop their goals and enable them to improve their practice as a classroom teacher.

Emily

Through the leadership skills I developed and the mathematical pedagogies we've researched and looked into, I really feel like it's developed myself as a leader and a teacher and has really allowed me to progress in my career and supported that growth.

Liz

Thomas and Emily in their roles have brought so much. You know, you've got to have the right people coming in. They don't just have the knowledge, but they have a really great way of being able to work with the staff and be able to see their strengths and guide them in that right direction and nurture those strengths.

Thomas

We get to live and breathe the faculty, the school context, the school's needs to support the entire faculty at their point of need and move the whole faculty forward for, you know, their wants, their desires, and ultimately to increase what's happening in terms of student outcomes, engagement and academic achievement.

Helen

It's there five days a week, you know, six to seven hours a day. The availability to access people that have the skills to develop you as a teacher or have the strategies to develop you as a student is what sets it apart from other things that I've seen come into our school.

Thomas

One of the critical features of being a trainer based in a school is that we still retain a teaching role which is really important for actually maintaining currency with classrooms and what's happening in the classroom.

Liz

So the Mathematics Growth Team is so different to ordinary professional learning delivery. Being in a rural school especially predominantly our PL is done online, and we very rarely get to have face to face professional learning.

Thomas

But of paramount importance of what we are designed to do within a school faculty is to work with a diverse and broad range of teachers. At Kooringal High School, I've been lucky to work with teachers that have just started their mathematics teaching careers right up to people who are finishing their teaching careers. So we've been able to design and deliver professional learning for those individuals. Being able to generate a collaborative environment where professional learning takes on different formats.

Liz

It's always those conversations that people say are a positive thing about going on those professional learning experiences, especially when they're face to face and it's that networking. And so of course the Maths Growth Team experience has allowed us to do that on a daily basis. We have kind of our in-house PL going on constantly.

Eddie

We love making sure that students have the best possible, most engaging experience of learning mathematics, which can be a really hard subject. But we actually have learned so many fantastic things about how to teach it effectively and that's what mathematics growth team trainers and embedded instructional leaders do around NSW.

Liz

I think in general the whole Maths Growth Team experience has ignited a spark in all of us, not just the team, but in the kids in the community. It's a buzz, you can feel it in the air and we're very grateful for the opportunity.

[End of transcript]

Case studies about the impact the Mathematics Growth Team is having in selected schools across NSW.

• Bowraville Central School: Challenging and improving mathematics teachers in primary and secondary contexts (PDF 650 KB)
• Woolgoolga High School: Creating a culture of continued improvement to increase student outcomes and engagement in mathematics (PDF 317 KB)
  
• Wingham High School: Using data to inform teaching practice and professional learning linked to evidence-based practice (PDF 466 KB)
• Alstonville High School: Improving Mathematical content knowledge of teachers and students (PDF 649 KB).

• Byron Bay High School: Using research to inform teaching practice and increase engagement in mathematics (PDF 211 KB).
• Lambton High School: Retrieval practice and its effect on student engagement (PDF 182 KB)
• Kingswood High School: Improving knowledge retention through a deeper understanding and engagement in mathematics (PDF 219 KB)