Maths Centre conducts elaborate workshops on the School Effect.

WHOLE SCHOOL development must aim to ignite holistic and sustainable change to advance the quality teaching and learning in every classroom for every single learner in a school

It is firmly believed at the Maths Centre that every innovation within a school challenges the WHOLE school regardless of the focus of intervention: subject based or school-development focused. In order to maximise effectiveness for teaching and learning programmes, while working intensively with the facilitation and cluster workshops programme in the participating schools, the whole staff is drawn in at one time or another as no classroom operates independent of the rest of the school. The whole staff is supported to understand the rationale of MATHS CENTRE developmental work and their role in taking the developments further as a whole school.

MATHS CENTRE recognises and endorses teacher-development: Knowledge – Skills – Values – Attitudes as the key to influencing the speed of the change process.

Self-sustaining change can only result if the whole school as an organisation brings together the development strategy, which may be influenced by several role players.

–  The School
–  Parents & the Community
–  Development Organisations providing INSET
–  The Department of Education
–  Unions and SGB’s

The factors that may influence learner’s received experience of learning, unique capacity to construct knowledge and hence the effectiveness of such experiences, are located within:

• the school as a whole organisation – its functions and mechanisms for curriculum delivery;
• classroom as the learner’s daily contact environment within which the teacher support mechanisms such as parental partnership, department input and INSET.

There are many factors; sometimes overlapping– be it within the mathematics classroom; any other subject or indeed the whole school. These are powerful factors. However, MATHS CENTRE believes that the teacher is the key to making most influences in a learner’s life.  Indeed we believe that teachers can initiate and sustain whole school developments.

What do Maths Centre field trainers engage in which can link to Whole School Developments?

Whole School Development can be defined as relatively systematic and lasting changes in the organisation of the school and its curriculum (content, methods of work, etc.) so that the school’s overall goals are improved.