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Engaging realworld investigations
Martin Newton started working on farms at the age of 9, was driving tractors at the age of 12, went to a secondary modern school and left school at 16 with a clutch of CSEs. He then worked in agriculture and horticulture attending his local land-based college, and ran his own small business. At the age of 30 he returned to an FE college, doing GCSE’s & A levels and then did a BEd Hons in secondary mathematics. Martin firstly worked in secondary for a short period then moved into FE teaching maths. Martin worked in 3 colleges teaching foundation 14-16, 16-18 and adult students from pre-entry maths to level 3 maths. He also held leadership roles and managed a large and diverse curriculum area. Martin’s true passion was teaching GCSE resit students and functional skills. Martin holds a strong belief in students’ ability to eventually succeed with Maths due to his own experience and trajectory in the subject. Martin is Assistant Director for Adult Mathematics at MEI.
Realistic Maths Education (RME): https://rme.org.uk/what-is-rme/about-rme/
The Standards Unit resources Improving learning through mathematics: https://www.stem.org.uk/elibrary/collection/2933
Teaching mathematics through problem solving: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1089676.pdf
The MEI contextualisation Toolkit: https://mei.org.uk/resource/9ae5796b-cf76-4ee1-ac9b-08d967d68474/
Pages 42 - 46:
Why I changed “from sage on the stage to guide on the side”
Joan entered FE mathematics teaching in 1991 as a sessional lecturer and quickly discovered a passion for helping learners think and talk mathematically. Over fifteen years she progressed to Advanced Practitioner, developing innovative approaches that encouraged students to make sense of mathematics rather than
simply follow procedures.
She joined the NANAMIC committee in 2001 and became an integral part of its work, contributing insight, encouragement and creative energy to every project. While attending a NANAMIC conference, Joan met Professor Malcolm Swan and joined his Learning Mathematics through Discussion and Reflection project, persuading teachers across the country to adopt more exploratory and collaborative approaches to teaching.
Her expertise led to work with the DfE’s Standards Unit, the NCETM, and the Open University in
Zimbabwe, as well as the Education and Training Foundation’s Centres for Excellence in Mathematics. Joan’s work has inspired countless teachers to reflect on their practice and embrace the power of mathematical dialogue. Joan has now retired from paid employment but is still working as a volunteer with refugees and with anyone whose maths needs a boost.
Editor: Joan has recently been awarded Lifetime Membership by NANAMIC. Most of the above was copied from the NANAMIC October 2025 newsletter.
Collaborative Learning in Mathematics by Malcolm Swan, Shell Centre for Mathematics https://numeracy4schools.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/collaborative-learning-in-mathematics.pdf
From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. Alison King College of Education at California State University in San Marcos, USA
Collaborative Learning in Mathematics by Malcolm Swan, Shell Centre for Mathematics https://numeracy4schools.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/collaborative-learning-in-mathematics.pdf
From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. Alison King College of Education at California State University in San Marcos, USA
https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/26953/creating-and-solving-equations-a2
https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/collection/2938/teaching-activities-and-materials