Subject Knowledge for Early Years Practitioners

This programme has been designed to develop the subject knowledge of  teachers of Early Years to enable them to understand, teach and support pupils in mathematics in the classroom. It has been designed for teachers who would like to develop their specialist knowledge  – this may be particularly relevant for teachers new to teaching mathematics.

A key focus of the programme will be on improving the participants’ ability to “do” mathematics but also to ensure they have the appropriate pedagogical knowledge to teach their pupils well. Subject knowledge will be linked to pedagogy.

Teachers will develop enhanced mathematics subject knowledge with a particular emphasis on mathematical structures in key areas of mathematics

Classroom practice will develop through a series of gap tasks where teachers try out activities to promote depth of understanding, reasoning and fluency; these might include pupil interviews, lesson study and work scrutiny.

The programme will have an impact on year group planning and increased use of manipulatives and representations. School calculation policies and lesson planning formats may be looked at with a view to ensuring that teaching for mastery and coherence are consistent across these.

Teachers’ understanding of lesson design will deepen to include better questioning and opportunities for mathematical talk.

Programme Outline

There will be 2 variations of the programme running. this year – ‘Shape’ and ‘Number’

• Both programmes will run over 3 full days
• A series of gap tasks between sessions will develop classroom practice.
• There is no cost to schools for participating in this programme, but there is a commitment to attending all three sessions, completing the gap tasks and completing the programme evaluations.

If you would like to express an interest in taking part during 20/21 please complete the form below: