The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) and the Department for Education (DfE) to assess the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP). Launched on 1 May 2018 and funded by the government, the AMSP seeks to boost student enrolment in AS/A-level Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Core Maths, while also enhancing the quality of instruction for these Level 3 qualifications. The evaluation set out to examine the programme’s effectiveness, outcomes and impacts, and to identify potential areas for improvement.
Conducted from November 2018 through May 2020, the study combined quantitative and qualitative methods. Researchers distributed paper and online questionnaires to heads of mathematics departments across 717 schools and colleges in England, carried out 18 telephone interviews with senior mathematics teachers at a subset of these institutions, and conducted follow-up visits to 15 locations. In addition, eight teachers engaged in on-demand professional development were interviewed by phone, and a targeted consultation gathered insights from key stakeholders.
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