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A great maths education depends on a sound underpinning curriculum and appropriate assessment.
MEI has established key principles for curriculum and assessment design and has unparalleled experience and expertise in this area.
MEI’s principles for curriculum design and development
A great curriculum should be coherent, put learners at its heart, and be innovative and evidence-based.
Coherent
MEI believes that curriculum, assessment, pedagogy and support for teachers should be considered together in a coherent way. The assessment should measure what the curriculum is designed to deliver; both should be compatible with and encourage good classroom practice; and teachers should be supported with excellent resources and professional development. When designing a curriculum, all of these should be designed together.
Coherence is also about connections. A good curriculum is designed to encourage learners to make strong connections within mathematics, to make connections with other subjects, and to make connections with their world. A mathematics curriculum is not just a body of knowledge, but a foundation for: a deep understanding of key concepts; enjoyment of a beautiful subject; and use of mathematics in solving real-world problems.
Coherence is also about progression, building on what learners already know and preparing them for the next stage in their education or life. The curriculum must be internally coherent, building carefully from one concept to the next.
Learners are at the heart of the curriculum
Curriculum design is about learners – where have they come from, what do they already know and understand and can do, where are they heading? A great curriculum takes into account the diverse starting points and needs of the intended learners and includes them all – it is aspirational for all of them. Good curriculum designers listen to learners and their teachers.
Innovative
A good curriculum considers the future needs of learners. The world is changing, so the curriculum needs to be innovative. In particular, curriculum design has to consider how technology impacts both learning and the world in which learners will use what they learn.
Evidence based
A great curriculum is research-based, drawing on evidence from the UK and internationally. The evidence can come from classrooms, various academic disciplines such as neuroscience and sociology as well as mathematics education research.
MEI’s expertise and experience
MEI has a long record of curriculum design of in Mathematics Education.
Currently, MEI has developed in collaboration with OCR A/AS level Mathematics B (MEI) and AS/A level Further Mathematics B (MEI) qualifications. The further maths qualification includes an innovative optional paper in which candidates use a computer in the exam, and the optional statistics papers develop an approach to using simulation in statistics. MEI has also developed, in collaboration with OCR, two Core Maths qualifications which build on previous curriculum work done by MEI.
MEI colleagues have been involved in ALCAB, Ofqual working groups, National Curriculum working groups and continue to be involved in ongoing government curriculum review groups. We use our influence to build curricula based on the principles above.
MEI does curriculum design work when we anticipate that there will be a future need for that work. See the case study below about a revised GCSE maths qualification for post-16 students. We are also working on what a data science curriculum in schools would look like.
Curriculum and assessment design are also about implementing the relevant national curriculum. MEI produced curriculum plans when developing the Oak National Academy resources for Key Stages 1 to 4 , which schools can use.
MEI supports schools with the design of the maths curriculum in their school and writes bespoke assessments for some schools.
We have the experience and expertise to design and offer advice on curricula and assessments to use at the national and local levels, based on sound principles.
Project Report
Nuffield Foundation: Creating qualifications better suited to students’ needs
An evidence-based report on why there should be a revised GCSE maths qualification for post-16 students.
In 2019, the Nuffield Foundation funded MEI to develop a new maths GCSE curriculum to establish the principle of an alternative approach. MEI conducted a range of research and consulted experts and stakeholders to inform the design of a potential revised qualification.
In 2020, we published the draft curriculum, sample assessments and sample teaching resources.
Work with us
Contact us to learn how you can partner with MEI for curriculum development.
Phone: +44 (0)1225 716495