Official advice and support
Rationale: Most teachers work within a framework determined
to some extent by external constraints, either at the state or national levels,
and sometimes both. By their nature, local advice and support is of critical
importance to understanding this framework and obtaining any necessary support.
It is also helpful to see what is offered outside oneีs own environment,
however. This allows access to external advice and also a sense of perspective
on how curricula are varied across state, national and international borders,
including being supported in different ways. Official advice and support offered
in some settings may still be very helpful to mathematics teachers in other
settings.
Here are some examples:
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At present, each state
in Australia has its own educational system, as Education is a state
responsibility. The Curriculum Council of WA is an example of an official
state body responsible for the school curriculum, for both primary
(elementary) school and secondary (high) school. The key document for years
K-10 is the Curriculum
Framework, details of which are online. Follow the leads for Mathematics
in particular. The last two years of school engage students in a choice of Courses.
For mathematics teachers, the relevant courses are Mathematics
and Specialist
Mathematics. In each case, the link leads to syllabuses, assessment and
other support materials and information about (public) examinations. |
Australian
National Curriculum The Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is in the process of
developing national curriculum for specified learning areas, one of the first
of which has been Mathematics. This website provides the authoritative and up
to date information on this process, which will continue over the course of
2010. Details of the history, intentions, processes (which involve
consultation with teachers and others) and policy documents are all
accessible online with a series of publications, including
Shape papers and Framing papers. Watch this site for future developments (and
opportunities for engaging in consultation). In due course, the site will
provide significant direct help for teachers with the new curricula in
mathematics (and other learning areas). Significantly, the same body will be
responsible for both curriculum and assessment from
2010. |
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This government website
from the UK offers many kinds of support for teachers of both primary
and secondary
mathematics. There are substantial resources for download and associated
advice on using them, such as the Interactive
Teaching Programs, intended for interactive whiteboards. Browse the site
to follow areas of interest and the ways in which they are centrally
supported. |
Advice welcome |
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Advice welcome |
Advice welcome |
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Advice welcome |
Advice welcome |
Return to Teaching Mathematics page.
Last
updated: 8 September 2009