Professional Development Partnerships

Research suggests that professional development most likely to succeed:
  • is requested by the teachers
  • takes place as close to the teacher's own working environment as possible
  • takes place over an extended period of time
  • provides opportunities for reflection and feedback
  • enables participants to feel a substantial degree of ownership
  • involves conscious commitment by the teacher
  • involves groups of teachers rather than individuals from a school
  • increases the participant's mathematical knowledge in some way
  • uses the services of a consultant and/or critical friend

Green Line

Supporting teachers to:

examine best practice in the context of students learning to work like a mathematician.
  • Problem solving
  • Concept development
  • Skill development

Partnerships formed with:

  • Systems
  • Districts
  • Clusters
  • Schools
  • Universities
  • ...
to engage teachers, administrators, parents and students in professional debate about the features of successful maths lessons.

Over decades we have developed:

  • face to face workshops
  • hands-on materials & software
  • web-based resources
as vehicles for retelling stories from successful classrooms.
  • Experienced leaders
  • Practical programs
  • Proven resources
  • Integrated software
  • Rich web sites

Our programs include stories chosen to:

  • stimulate debate about the features of successful lessons
  • encourage teachers to re-enact some of the stories for themselves.
Trying a colleague's idea enables us to 'have a conversation' with that teacher about its merits. In the process we add our own experiences to the debate.

'Off the Shelf' Programs

  • PD from MC: (Years K-12)
    A library of workshops which can be used individually or be woven together.
  • Task Centre Workshop: (Years 2-10)
    A full day assisting a school to establish hands-on problem solving tasks.

  • Calculating Changes: (Primary)
    Taste & See
    Two hours to introduce the features of Calculating Changes including Working Mathematically with Infants.
    Workshop
    Full day to establish the principles and practice of Calculating Changes including Working Mathematically with Infants.

  • Tasks & Maths300
    Introduction
    Two hours to introduce the features of, and links between, the invitation to work like a mathematician and whole class investigations to model the work of a mathematician.

    Two versions:
    - primary
    - secondary

Tailored Programs

  • Discussion Lessons
    - We take a class to act out a lesson.
    - Your teachers observe.
    - We meet before for a short time to brief, and after for about an hour to debrief.
    - You arrange for your teachers to enact this lesson with their own class and report back to each other.

  • You choose the program
    Whatever your need:
    - effective use of technology
    - multiple intelligences teaching
    - building home/school connections
    - alternative assessment practices
    - algebra, chance & data, ...

    let's talk.

Previous partnerships include:

  • C. E. O. Canberra Goulburn
  • Aboriginal Education Unit, Tasmania
  • Department of Education and Children's Services, South Australia
  • Melbourne & La Trobe Universities
  • Association of Independent Schools, South Australia
  • Mathematics Teachers' Association of Northern Territory
  • Högskolan, Malmö, Sweden
  • ... many others

Find out more at:

To discuss how our resources, personnel and experience can support your needs contact Doug. Williams, Project Manager, Mathematics Centre.

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