NRICH and Tower Hamlets teachers inspiring problem solvers of the future

For the 4th year running, NRICH is working in collaboration with the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership to support schools, teachers and pupils in the borough. Over the course of the 2019/20 academic year, NRICH staff are leading a series of linked face-to-face professional development days for primary teachers from schools in Tower Hamlets, exploring effective ways of developing problem-solving, reasoning and fluency - the key aims of the primary curriculum - in their classrooms. This year’s focus is on developing whole class reasoning, and builds on previous work of embedding and assessing problem solving, reasoning and fluency in primary mathematics. The teachers involved cover both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, some are subject leaders and some have senior leadership responsibilities in their settings. Over a series of 6 full day events, teachers are introduced to strategies and resources to explore the role of NRICH tasks in nurturing confident, resourceful and enthusiastic teachers and learners of mathematics. In between the sessions, teachers introduce resources in their classrooms, and are encouraged to share learning from this. The programme has involved 33 primary schools in Tower Hamlets to date over the four years, with outstanding feedback from participants on the benefits to both teachers and their pupils. "For me, I think the children in my class have become far more adventurous and courageous," commented a teacher who participated in the programme previously. "They’re able to solve problems with confidence, they’re flexible, they're thoughtful and objective, and I really feel that it’s promoting the idea of them being a problem solver for the future." You can learn more and watch the programme in action in previous years in the video below.