Stephen Pardoe

Steve became a trustee in November 2023, and is one of the link trustees for Further Education.

Steve recently retired after leading the DfE’s FE Centres for Excellence in Maths (CfEM) programme on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation.  Prior to this he was a maths teacher and manager in the Further Education (FE) sector for 20 years, before joining the post-compulsory teacher training team at the University of Warwick, where he led the maths specialist pathway.  He has also worked as a professional development lead and regional lead in the Midlands for several FE maths projects, including NCETM’s GCSE Maths Enhancement Programme.

Steve is passionate about re-engaging young people who have previously ‘failed’ at maths at school and are re-sitting in colleges.  He has a particular interest in developing learners’ mathematical resilience to overcome maths anxiety and develop self-efficacy.  He also has a strong interest in mastery approaches and Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) and their adaptation to make mathematical concepts more tangible and meaningful to FE learners.