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A major reform of the Mathematics curriculum was published in England in 2016, implemented in 2017 and examined in 2019. In Bulgaria, the analogous reform was published in 2018, will be implemented in 2020 and examined in 2022. This paper takes the framework developed by Budgell and Kunchev (2019) and seeks to interpret the new curricula in terms of the Students, the State and the Curriculum with an introduction to Assessment. In terms of the Curriculum, the paper examines, at the highest level, General and Specific Objectives; followed by Overarching Themes; then the Topics covered and finally the Detailed Content Statements for each topic. The paper concludes that the real differences between the teaching of Mathematics in England and Bulgaria lie not in the Mathematics itself but in the overall curriculum and assessment frameworks within which Mathematics is taught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify significant trends in mathematics curricula and teaching approaches in two education systems: the United States (a highly decentralised education system) and England (a highly centralised education system), with focus on 16-to-19-year-olds. The paper adopts a two-fold perspective: an historical overview, and comparison of the areas of convergence and divergence across both education systems. The trajectory of mathematical development is expressed through timelines of core concepts and ideas which chronicle the sequence of events and philosophies that have shaped the development of mathematics teaching and learning. By tracing the trajectory of mathematics through history, the paper provides a greater awareness of how different factors influence how mathematics is taught across two disparate educational jurisdictions. The paper affords opportunities to reflect on and draw conclusions about what constitutes meaningful mathematics teaching and curriculum approaches for 21st century learner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents and explores the experience of maths students studying in a context shaped by a core concept maths curriculum. The three vignettes that illuminate experience are drawn from a larger research project that worked with five teachers and 630 learners aged 16–18 in Further Education classrooms in England. Analysis involved distinguishing different understandings of being good at maths, different views of a good maths curriculum and identifying enablers and barriers to being a 'successful' maths student. Dewey's ideas about focused experience and collateral learning were used to deepen this analysis. The paper reports a surprising finding. In some cases, students recognize the positive impact learning maths had on developing their wider human capabilities. Maths teachers in England, working in the context of 'new public management', may find reasons to take heart from the accounts of teaching and learning presented. For the international reader who is grappling with the challenge of reengaging maths students, the accounts of what matters to students could spur a reconsideration of priorities and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political importance of mathematics in post-16 education is clear. Far less clear is how mathematics does and should relate to vocational education. Successive mathematics curricula (e.g. core skills, key skills) have been developed in England with vocational learners in mind. Meanwhile, general mathematics qualifications remain largely disconnected from vocational learning. Following a brief historical survey of mathematics within vocational education, the paper presents findings from a nested case study of student groups in three large Further Education colleges in England. The primary unit of analysis herein is student groups learning Functional Mathematics in two vocational areas: construction and hairdressing. We show how approaches to organising teaching, developing connected curricula and classroom pedagogy tend toisolateorintegratemathematics from/with the vocational experience.Integratedapproaches are shown to impact positively on student engagement and attitudes to learning mathematics. The paper concludes by discussing the potential impact of academic qualifications displacing vocationally relevant mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the potential impact of a national pilot initiative in England aimed at increasing and widening participation in advanced mathematical study through the creation of a new qualification for 16- to 18-year-olds. This proposed qualification pathway- Use of Mathematics-sits in parallel with long-established, traditional advanced level qualifications, what we call 'traditional Mathematics' herein. Traditional Mathematics is typically required for entry to mathematically demanding undergraduate programmes. The structure, pedagogy and assessment of Use of Mathematics is designed to better prepare students in the application of mathematics, and its development has surfaced some of the tensions between academic/pure and vocational/applied mathematics. Here, we explore what Use of Mathematics offers, but we also consider some of the objections to its introduction in order to explore aspects of the knowledge politics of mathematics education. Our evaluation of this curriculum innovation raises important issues for the mathematics education community as countries seek to increase the numbers of people that are well prepared to apply mathematics in science and technology-based higher education courses and work places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that attention to pattern and structure is fundamental to mathematical learning and attainment yet early mathematics curricula in England underplay the importance of patterning. In a critical realist notion of powerful knowledge, pattern teaching has the potential to empower children to notice patterns, mathematise their everyday experiences and engage in mathematical sense-making. This study investigated how to harness this potential. It reports on participatory research with ten teachers of three to five-year-old children in England as they developed pattern teaching in their classrooms. Findings indicate that teacher knowledge, pedagogic interactions and pattern-rich environments (all underpinned by an appropriate developmental progression and extended to form a setting-wide shared approach) support the development of patterning praxis in early childhood classrooms. These offer potential priorities for ECE teachers in developing their patterning praxis in order to support children's mathematical learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses whether the introduction of end‐of‐course, linear General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations changed the socio‐economic equity gap in England. The GCSE is a national examination offered in a wide range of subjects and taken by almost the entire 16‐year‐old age cohort. Between the years 2007 and 2014, it underwent a number of reforms to both the underlying curriculum and the examination structure. At the beginning of the period, examinations were primarily modular in structure where the course was decomposed into discrete units tested in a staged manner. By 2014, all GCSE examinations were linear and the whole course content was tested simultaneously when study was complete. These structural changes and the curriculum reforms mean that the impact of modular and linear testing on the performance of students has been the focus of recent interest. Some educational commentators suggested that modular examinations are more suitable for lower‐performing students, including those with lower socio‐economic status (SES). This research has been conducted to monitor the socio‐economic equity gap in the light of the structural changes. It focuses on GCSE mathematics and concludes that, although there is still a clear gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers, this gap does not seem to be exacerbated by the examination structure. In other words, the linearisation of GCSE mathematics is unlikely to have increased inequity between students of high and low SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the relationship between policy and practice in the early childhood mathematics curriculum for reception-class (RC) children of five years in England. It explores what the policy requires RC teachers to do in terms of curriculum implementation; what RC teachers’ views and understanding of the early childhood mathematics curriculum are; how RC teachers implement early years mathematics policy; and how RC children respond. A case study design included interviews with elite participants who influenced the policy-making process, survey of RC teachers and a detailed investigation of RC classes on three school sites. As elite interviews underlined, international comparison studies have had an important influence on early childhood mathematics policies by creating top-down pressure for standards. Elites and practitioners drew attention to a tension between a play-based pedagogy and a standards agenda. Tensions in policy text were reflected in mixed and ambivalent views and reported practices by elites and practitioners. RC teachers did not merely receive and implement policy expectations but brought their own values and understandings to practice. The study reveals interplay between local and global influences in a context of changing views of early childhood, early learning and early years pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the role of resource based learning in the undergraduate curriculum in engineering at Exeter, England. It was recognized from the start in 1965 that the new syllabus proposed for Engineering Science would present pedagogic difficulties. In the view of academic colleagues elsewhere, it was an attempt to cram the contents of traditional civil, electrical and mechanical syllabuses into a single three year course, and as such it was considered impossible to teach. The objective adopted for the new course was to educate students for a competent approach to problems involving innovation or relating to failure situations. The syllabus was divided into five subject-oriented lecture streams with conventional names: 'Electricity', 'Mathematics', 'Materials', 'Mechanics and Structures', and 'Thermofluids.' It is convenient to recognize two natural subdivisions in the resource material: programs that replace lectures and those that support laboratory classes. A program that re places a lecture must allow the student to go at his own pace making his own notes and it must be readily available.