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Two wooden figures attempt to build a tower

Mathematics is more than exams

Thursday 12 December 2024

Part two of Katie Severn's series of insights from the Observatory's survey of incoming undergraduate students. Which resources do students rely on for exam preparation and how as educators can we better prepare our students for mathematical success?

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Observatory responds to curriculum and assessment review call for evidence

Thursday 05 December 2024

The Observatory has published its submission to the Department for Education's call for evidence for the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

Read the Observatory's response

 

 

intro report cover

The Observatory publishes its introductory report

Tuesday 03 December 2024

Yesterday, the Observatory published its introductory report. The report sets out the Observatory’s design concepts together with preliminary plans for the coming years, including details of our progress on setting up the largest ever cohort studies of mathematical education in England.

Read the report

 

 

Two smiling undergraduate students write maths problems on a digital whiteboard

Insights from incoming university mathematics students

Wednesday 13 November 2024

Katie Severn shares early insights from the Observatory's survey of over 1,000 students starting undergraduate mathematical sciences degrees in the UK and introduces 'the coding disconnect'.

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Graph paper

GCSE Mathematics - charting grades, participation by age and tiering

Wednesday 6 November 2024

Stephen Lee and David Sirl explore the data of GCSE Mathematics awards in summer 2023 ahead of the November sitting for students retaking GCSE Mathematics.

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Pumpkins

Trick or treat?

Thursday 31 October 2024

Chris Brignell shares the scary stats keeping him up at night this Halloween. Read to the end for a Halloween treat!

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Coloured pencils lined up on a table

Aligning education with the workplace

Wednesday 19 September 2024

Last week the Observatory were delighted to host Ayse Bilgin, past-president of the International Association for Statistics Education and incoming vice-president of the International Statistical Institute. Chris Brignell shares his thoughts after these insightful discussions with Ayse about divisions, labels and redefining the student experience in higher education.

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Camera child sat on a red chair holding a purple plastic camera

Do you do maths on paper? "No, I do it on my chair!"

Thursday 12 September 2024

Over the summer, we ran a pilot version of our upcoming cohort studies. The schools kindly invited Emma Owens on a visit to see the survey process in action and the teaching staff shared their invaluable feedback. Emma explores some key learning points and the joys of working with children.

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A departures board at an airport

Transitions to (and from) university

Wednesday 4 September 2024

Studying maths at university isn't a walk in the park. Chris Brignell attended last week's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) conference and reflects on two pieces of work about the transition from A-level maths to university. This is an area the Observatory will explore further through the results of a survey sent by UCAS this week to all students starting an undergraduate maths degree this autumn.

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Vision spelt in Scrabble tiles

GCSE revisioned

Thursday 22 August 2024

Geoff Wake reflects on what today's GCSE results - particularly for those students who do not receive the results they had hoped for - mean for the maths curriculum going forward.

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Milestone 100,000+ entries to A level Mathematics reached in 2024

Thursday 15 August 2024

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published the provisional number of entries for A levels for summer 2024. Stephen Lee and Jake Powell have marked the occasion of A level Mathematics reaching 100,000+ entries for the first time by creating a short animation showing how entries have changed over the past 20 years.

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Athletes running on a race track

Are all maths degrees the same?

Monday 22 July 2024

Once you've decided to study mathematics at university, the course choice becomes easy, doesn't it? Surely all maths degrees are the same? Chris Brignell debunks these myths and shares why it's not as straightforward as you might think.

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U-turn

What use is research evidence in Mathematics Education?

Wednesday 17 July 2024

Randomised control trials (RCTs) have been a central part of Geoff Wake's research for the past decade. Has one talk at a recent conference completely changed his mind on their value?

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water through tunnel

Understanding post-16 maths participation: A pipeline, a set of pathways or an expanding portfolio?

Wednesday 03 July 2024

Members of the Observatory have been investigating maths participation for a number of years. From pipelines to pathways, different metaphors are used to talk about the number of students studying maths post-16. But what do the different metaphors mean? Jennifer Norris explains the different metaphors and poses the question of what we might be missing.

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A globe next to a pot of coloured pencils and assorted wooden blocks

What can we learn from international comparison studies?

Monday 17 June 2024

England has participated in international comparison studies for many years. Gabriel Lee explores what we have learnt from these studies and why anyone should care about the findings.

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Empty desks and chairs in rows in an exam room

Post-16 mathematics entries reach a record high in 2024! 

Friday 31 May 2024

Ofqual has published the provisional number of entries for GCSE, AS and A level for summer 2024. Stephen Lee explains what these figures mean for post-16 mathematics.

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young girl practicing numbers

Children are doing it for themselves: Choice, interest and agency in early number learning  

Wednesday 29 May 2024

Cath Gripton explains the complexity of teaching maths to young children, the concept of the child's mathematics and how this relates to her research project Counting Collections.

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Stacked books

Policy-based evidence making

Tuesday 21 May 2024

The Director of the Observatory offers comment on the relationship between evidence and policy in education, following the publication of a new report by the Royal Society and British Academy.

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Updating 'the Mathematics Pipeline'

Monday 20 May 2024

Researchers at the Observatory have just published a paper that updates 'the Mathematics pipeline' to consider how intersectional characteristcs affect maths participation.

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Charlie Brown

Understanding maths schools

Thursday 16 May 2024

The Observatory’s Andy Noyes and Chris Brignell recently attended governor’s day for U-Maths.

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OME women in maths

Celebrating Women in Mathematics Day

Friday 12 May 2024

Katie Severn shares how the Observatory celebrates women in mathematics and the work we do to increase inclusion and accessibility of maths to all.

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sampling schools image

Sampling schools

Friday 3 May 2024

David Sirl explains the sampling method behind our cohort studies.

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boy in classroom

Learning maths - research in the classroom

Thursday 25 April 2024

Geoff Wake explores what research conducted by the Observatory can tell us about what works in the classroom.

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MM white background

GCSE Maths resits - network events (roadshows)

Wednesday 24 April 2024

A series of roadshows is being held in April and May for teachers of GCSE Maths resit students to come together and hear from each other and organisations supporting improvements across the post-16 sector - at a location near you.

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Andy Noyes 550x333x2

England’s largest cohort study in mathematics education 

Wednesday 17 April 2024

In November 2023, we announced the establishment of the Observatory for Mathematical Education, made possible with a five-year founding grant of £8 million from XTX Markets.

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Trent Building - OME

£8m funding secured to establish Observatory for Mathematical Education at the University of Nottingham

Tuesday 07 November 2023

The University of Nottingham has secured a founding £8m grant from XTX Markets to establish the Observatory for Mathematical Education...

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