As part of the Team Maths Final 2022, we hosted a Review & Reflection of the work of the IMTA post-Covid and used it as an opportunity to take stock, asses what we have done and see where we are going as an organisation. We had a blended session with participants face to face answering some thought-provoking questions coupled with members contributing via Zoom. We used Mentimeter to gather answers to questions which both asked us what we do well, what we need to keep and more importantly where we fall down, in terms of our aims and objectives as set out in our constitution. What do we need to do better? It was an open and frank discussion – a summary of which follows.
| Executive Summary |
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The IMTA has offered excellent CPD during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the move to Zoom has helped a lot in this regard. All of the benefits of zoom have been identified (lack of travel, time, recording and uploading to website, topics of interest) and people would like to see this continue. ‘Zoom brings the IMTA to people rather than people having to go to the IMTA. It removes boundaries.
- Great to have so much cooperation now between branches.
- The annual conference both years were excellent too.
- The updated website has been really helpful and it looks great now
- Centralising membership has worked very well, albeit huge work for those involved.
- People would also like to see some branch meetings to give members an opportunity to meet in person. This could be done best using Teach Meets and other hands-on/practical workshops which are harder to do over a screen.
- We could consider more on creating/ integrating/sharing IT in the classrooms, as opposed to using IT to deliver online classes.
- Greater need for Advocacy in terms of national changes such as Junior Cycle and proposed Senior Cycle discussions.
- Advocacy to make it easier for people to become a maths teacher – the teaching Council is a huge barrier to entry to the profession
- The removal of the Foundation Level paper for JC students is hugely problematical, especially for students who just miss the L2LP threshold
- Do we do enough (anything?) for students doing LCA and/or OL LC maths.
- Need to examine the possibility of financial supports for students doing Maths teaching in 3rd level. Can’t rush into a decision on this.
Other Points made
- It can be hard to keep up with all the CPD going on and being offered by PDST/JCT/IMTA/Education Centres. If you’re not on twitter, you can miss all of this. Hard to know where to go for information. The CPD Calendar on the IMTA website is very useful for this.
- Could we consider a hybrid model for Team Maths – have it in the usual locations and if others want to participate, could we do it online for them? This may mean not doing it at 7pm on a Friday evening and is something we would need to research.
- Could the same be said of the JMC? Could we also give schools the option to do the paper version, correct themselves and upload top scores to a MS form/email them in?
- Face-to-face meetings often help to boost energy and positivity for maths teachers who may be struggling
- Could we have a national teach meet? – discussion around a maths symposium and the energy this gave people.
- Fully worked solutions (not just answers) to Team Maths questions – could be a student competition in itself?
- Explore possibility of bursary for student(s) studying maths education in college
- Survey members on FL exam in JC
- Could/Should we have a Password protected/members’ only section on website to prevent some people
- Insist on being member school to enter competitions?
A survey of all members on these suggestions would be welcome.
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As a direct result of this, we created two surveys to send to members to gather feedback on Junior and Senior cycle reforms (Minister Foley’s senior cycle reforms were announced 19 days after our review meeting).
Junior Cycle Survey can be accessed here
Senior Cycle Survey can be accessed here
The results of both of these surveys are available under the Submissions & Advocacy Tab at the top of the page
As part of the Team Maths Final 2022, we hosted a Review & Reflection of the work of the IMTA post-Covid and used it as an opportunity to take stock, asses what we have done and see where we are going as an organisation. We had a blended session with participants face to face answering some thought-provoking questions coupled with members contributing via Zoom. We used Mentimeter to gather answers to questions which both asked us what we do well, what we need to keep and more importantly where we fall down, in terms of our aims and objectives as set out in our constitution. What do we need to do better? It was an open and frank discussion – a summary of which follows.
| Executive Summary |
|
The IMTA has offered excellent CPD during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the move to Zoom has helped a lot in this regard. All of the benefits of zoom have been identified (lack of travel, time, recording and uploading to website, topics of interest) and people would like to see this continue. ‘Zoom brings the IMTA to people rather than people having to go to the IMTA. It removes boundaries.
- Great to have so much cooperation now between branches.
- The annual conference both years were excellent too.
- The updated website has been really helpful and it looks great now
- Centralising membership has worked very well, albeit huge work for those involved.
- People would also like to see some branch meetings to give members an opportunity to meet in person. This could be done best using Teach Meets and other hands-on/practical workshops which are harder to do over a screen.
- We could consider more on creating/ integrating/sharing IT in the classrooms, as opposed to using IT to deliver online classes.
- Greater need for Advocacy in terms of national changes such as Junior Cycle and proposed Senior Cycle discussions.
- Advocacy to make it easier for people to become a maths teacher – the teaching Council is a huge barrier to entry to the profession
- The removal of the Foundation Level paper for JC students is hugely problematical, especially for students who just miss the L2LP threshold
- Do we do enough (anything?) for students doing LCA and/or OL LC maths.
- Need to examine the possibility of financial supports for students doing Maths teaching in 3rd level. Can’t rush into a decision on this.
Other Points made
- It can be hard to keep up with all the CPD going on and being offered by PDST/JCT/IMTA/Education Centres. If you’re not on twitter, you can miss all of this. Hard to know where to go for information. The CPD Calendar on the IMTA website is very useful for this.
- Could we consider a hybrid model for Team Maths – have it in the usual locations and if others want to participate, could we do it online for them? This may mean not doing it at 7pm on a Friday evening and is something we would need to research.
- Could the same be said of the JMC? Could we also give schools the option to do the paper version, correct themselves and upload top scores to a MS form/email them in?
- Face-to-face meetings often help to boost energy and positivity for maths teachers who may be struggling
- Could we have a national teach meet? – discussion around a maths symposium and the energy this gave people.
- Fully worked solutions (not just answers) to Team Maths questions – could be a student competition in itself?
- Explore possibility of bursary for student(s) studying maths education in college
- Survey members on FL exam in JC
- Could/Should we have a Password protected/members’ only section on website to prevent some people
- Insist on being member school to enter competitions?
A survey of all members on these suggestions would be welcome.
|
As a direct result of this, we created two surveys to send to members to gather feedback on Junior and Senior cycle reforms (Minister Foley’s senior cycle reforms were announced 19 days after our review meeting).
Junior Cycle Survey can be accessed here
Senior Cycle Survey can be accessed here
The results of both of these surveys are available under the Submissions & Advocacy Tab at the top of the page
