Developing employability skills

alongside maths

Janice Richards

MEI

Jack Clark,

Chris Wallis,

and Connor Bell

Ravens Wood

School

Employability skills

• What are they?

• Who needs them?

• What’s it got to do with teaching maths?

Case study

• Coaching, mentoring and leadership at Ravens Wood School

Reflection, discussion, and sharing of ideas

In pairs…

In 1 minute:

• List 5 employability skills that could

be developed in school/college

• Identify one that is particularly well

facilitated by learning maths

What are employability skills?

Link to cbi booklet_Learning to grow.

Definition of employability skills

See page 32 of the booklet Learning to grow.

Who needs them?

STEMNET Employability

Skills Guide

Link to materials

Who needs employability skills?

Who needs employability skills?

Source:

The CBI

Education

and Skills

Survey

2011

…from

school

leavers

See the diagram exhibit 14 on page 19

of this document

“Over two thirds of employers (70%)

want to see the development of

employability skills among young

people at school and college made a

top priority – this does not require a

new qualification but rather

embedding the skills in the

curriculum, as the best schools and

colleges already do.”

Source: The CBI Education and Skills Survey 2011

…to graduates

“1 in 12 graduates

without work six

months after leaving

education and 40%

failing to get graduate-

calibre posts more

than two years after

graduation.”

“Levels of employer satisfaction

with the employability skills of

graduates are higher than for

school and college leavers, but

there are still alarming

weaknesses in skills around

team working (20%) and

problem-solving (19%).”

“The government wants universities to better collaborate

with industry and made key recommendations to improve

graduate employability.”

What has this got to do with

teaching maths?

It may help to

engage

students “Maths lessons are seen

as difficult, irrelevant

and boring by about a

third of teenagers…”

“Teenagers had clear

ideas about how maths

teaching could be

improved, with 54%

saying it should be

geared to more practical

scenarios.”

Link to school maths should be

more practical article.

Mathematics: made to measure, Ofsted 2012:

It remains a concern that secondary pupils

seemed so readily to accept the view that

learning mathematics is important but dull. They

frequently told inspectors that in other subjects

they enjoyed regular collaboration on tasks in

pairs or groups and discussion of their ideas, yet

they often did not do so in their mathematics

lessons, or even expect to do so.

It may be approved of by Ofsted

Could it even improve the

learning of maths?

Case study:

Ravens Wood School:

Coaching and mentoring

and

Leadership

programmes

Leading by Example

Jack Clark Chairman of the Sixth Form Leadership Group

with

Connor Bell and Chris Wallis

Ravens Wood School Mathematics Department

Sixth Form Leadership Group

Sixth Form Leadership Group 2013 - 2014

Taking Classes

Revision

Ma3

The Chairmen

Dan Jeremy 2013 - 2014

Jack Clark 2014 - 2015

Jack Jewell 2012 - 2013

Coaching and Mentoring

One to One Mentoring

Leading Lessons

ILM Level 2 Coaching and Mentoring Accreditation

Key Characteristics

Honesty

Active Listener

Leadership

Ambition

Organisational Skills

Empathy

Passion

Teamwork

Integrity

Diversity of Mentoring

There is an inspiring culture of

peer mentoring and support, and

competition at the highest end of

the attainment spectrum that

continually raises the bar and

pushes the boundaries.

The Final Word from Jack

Jack Jewell, Chairman 2012 - 2013

Sutton Trust/EEF Pupil Premium Toolkit 2013

Intervention Cost Rating Strength of

Evidence

Average

Impact

Feedback

££ *** + 8 months

Metacognition & self-

regulation

££ **** + 8 months

Peer tutoring

££ **** + 6 months

Early Years intervention

£££££ **** + 6 months

One to one tuition

££££ **** + 5 months

Homework (secondary)

£ *** + 5 months

Collaborative learning

£ **** + 5 months

www://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit

Group discussion

1. On your own - Think of 2 ways in which

you already develop employability skills

in your lessons (2 mins)

2. Working in pairs, identify 2 new ways in

which you could do this. (5 mins)

3. Still in pairs - How do you think these

might help to improve maths learning?

(5 mins)

Group discussion: New

approaches

Employability skills

• What are they?

• Who needs them?

• What’s it got to do with teaching maths?

Case study

• Coaching, mentoring and leadership at Ravens Wood School

Reflection, discussion, and sharing of ideas

Some ideas to take away

• Class discussions https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/39312

• Communication skills - Property Tycoon activity

http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Extra-Curricular-

Property-Tycoon-6028217/

• Developing team-working skills

http://nrich.maths.org/6933

• ILM Coaching and Mentoring level 2 Award for Young

Learners:

https://www.i-l-

m.com/~/media/ILM%20Website/Documents/Information%20f

or%20centres/Retired%20VRQs%20and%20iQUALs/Qual_S

pec_L2_Award_in_Mentoring_for_YL_Oct_2011%20pdf.ashx

Any questions?

Developing maths skills through

work experience

The practical experience of

applying maths in the workplace

can also help to strengthen their

mathematical skills.

MEI, funded by the DfE and

with help from AELP, has

produced two guides to support

and encourage this.

Work experience placements can help students to see the

relevance of maths to their futures. This can be particularly

motivating for them.

The providers’ guide

Key content

• Getting employers on board and

supporting them.

• Encouraging your students

• Contextualised teaching and

learning

• Putting it into practice

The employers’ guide

Key content

• Getting employers on board

• What are Study Programmes

and Traineeships?

• What sort of maths?

• How to go about it

• Useful questions

• Where can they get support?

Further details

• Both guides and a recording of a webinar that

introduces them, are available on the MEI website at

www.mei.org.uk under Teachers \ Study

Programmes

• The employers’ guide is also available separately at:

under Employers \ Work Experience

• Contact Janice Richards at MEI:

janice.richards@mei.org.uk