Lynne McClure is the Director of Cambridge Mathematics. You can read her biography here.
I’ve been involved with lots of new projects in my time but nothing with quite the potential impact of Cambridge Mathematics. Ultimately our aim is to make a positive difference to mathematics education world-wide, by harnessing the knowledge and experience of colleagues working within and outside the University. The Faculties of Mathematics and Education have lots to offer – whether it is advising, for example, on the connections between school mathematics and the advances in mathematics research, or the latest evidence we have about how students of all ages learn. Both Faculties have a healthy international reach and that is mirrored by the national and international expertise within both Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment.
So what are we actually going to do? Well, basing as much as we possibly can on national and international evidence and research, we’re going to design an integrated programme that brings together curriculum, assessment, supporting resources and professional development. We will be working with other colleagues in the University who have an interest in maths education, such as the physicists and social scientists. We’ll be making sure we pay close attention to mathematics education in both the skills sector and in catering for those for whom numeracy is a struggle.
We will be looking at the full progression from early years through to the oldest students. Although the university is mostly concerned with the latter, we’ll be making sure that we search out the best research to inform our work with those at the beginning of their mathematical journey, because those foundations are incredibly important. And through all of this we will be talking with our friends and colleagues worldwide to triangulate what we are doing against many different contexts and education systems.
Such an ambitious programme will require a huge initial input of energy, time, expertise and, in order to facilitate all that, funding. Of course ultimately we hope that the time and money spent will reap rewards for all the participating partners, but that will be only one end product of what we hope will be a worthwhile programme that really will make a difference.
If you haven’t already done so, do register your interest in this exciting new venture. It may be that you’d like to watch from the side lines and see how we get on. But if you’d like to be involved, we’d be delighted to have you alongside. There’s a lot to do!
Lynne McClure
Director, Cambridge Mathematics