As part of our national strategic priority to support the continual improvement of educational outcomes for all students, the National Catholic Education Commission has engaged Ochre Education to deliver a full year’s worth of high-quality, evidence-based and adaptable teaching resources for Years 7 and 8 mathematics teachers in Catholic schools.
The release of Term 2 resources (aligned to Australian and Victorian Curriculum) will be available on 28 March (Unit 1) and 30 April (all T2 Units) via the Ochre Education website.
What to expect
The Mastery in Mathematics (MiM) project is working collaboratively with around 40 expert secondary mathematics teachers in our pilot dioceses to deliver three strands of work:
- curriculum maps to support schools’ planning
- adaptable and editable classroom materials including teacher presentation slides, student booklets, reteach slides, daily review, screening assessments and sample assessments (quizzes)
- professional learning to support teachers including yearly overviews and unit plans provide support for curriculum planning and implementation, teacher guidance notes, suggested teaching steps and sequences to inform instructional practice
MiM will deliver over 200 lessons and 850 resources, including targeted resources to support intervention for students who have gaps in foundational numeracy skills.
Aligning to new curricula
Resources will be mapped to the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0, the new NSW Syllabus, and the Victorian Curriculum version 2.0, and all lessons embed high-impact, evidence-based teaching practices that are adaptable by teachers to suit their students’ needs. From the curriculum maps, each of the sets of lesson resources addresses the relevant curriculum, giving teachers and school leaders the confidence that the materials will provide complete coverage of curriculum requirements.
Ensuring quality, evidence-based and coherent resources
The materials have been developed by teachers in Catholic schools, bringing both their significant expertise in teaching mathematics and their experience working with students
to ensure the lessons are tailored to meet the needs of students. The lesson materials use evidence-based strategies recommended by the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), including elements of cognitive load theory, explicit instruction, mastery learning and problem solving. The lesson materials are created to build concepts and understanding over time, with similar representations and methods used within and over years to help students develop.
Supporting autonomy and adaptability
A key consideration in developing the materials is ensuring schools and teachers retain autonomy to tailor curriculum implementation to meet their local context. MiM resources – from the curriculum maps through to the lesson materials – are provided as suggested sequences and teaching approaches. The resources recognise variation in student achievement and can be used or tailored to best meet the individual needs of students.
All resources are editable, providing a strong foundation for lesson planning while allowing teachers to adjust the materials, add in their own elements or skip sections that are not required.
Saving time for teachers
Recent research from the Grattan Institute, shows that the provision of high-quality curriculum resources for teachers creates more sustainable workloads allowing them to focus more on student engagement, where their time and energy have the greatest impact. The resources will help to relieve the planning load of many thousands of teachers creating materials in parallel, and will be valuable to teachers at all stages of their careers, including early career and out-of-field teachers, with the latest data showing that 33 per cent of mathematics teachers are working out-of-field.
When
Mastery in Mathematics resources will be released over a number of phases – see below for key dates*:
| 27 Nov 2023 | Teacher Benchmarking Survey to support the evaluation of resources |
| 15 Dec 2023 | Release of the curriculum maps and professional learning resources |
| 22 Jan 2024 | Initial release of Unit 1, Term 1 lessons and resources |
| 31 Jan 2024 | Release of remaining Units for Term 1 |
| 13 & 15 Feb 2024 | Live and on-demand professional learning webinars |
| 28 March 2024 | Release of Term 2 Unit 1 lessons and resources |
| 30 April 2024 | Release of remaining Term 2 |
| 30 Apr & 2 May 2024 | Term 2 Live Webinars |
| 21 May 2024 | Release of Term 3 Unit lessons and resources |
| 30 Aug 2024 | Release of Term 4 Unit lessons and resources |
| Term 4 2024 | End of Year Teacher Survey |
| *Subject to change |
Where to access MiM
All resources will be made available under a Creative Commons licence and distributed on the Ochre website. Materials are provided using Google Suite, to ensure availability of access to all teachers. A range of professional learning resources for teachers including videos, surveys on the materials and professional learning supports will also be available.
Mastery in Mathematics is available via the Ochre Education website https://ochre.org.au/
Sign up for updates
For the latest information, teacher recruitment opportunities, and reminders about release dates for resources and professional learning, sign up for our Mastery in Mathematics mailing below.