Preparing to teach those aiming for the November resit

Alongside these insights, you’ll also be able to access new, free resources just for post-16. Look at our route map and teaching guide to help you focus your teaching and set you and your learners up for success.

Resits

I meet many maths teachers who are engaged in the post-16 resit agenda. They’re a pragmatic bunch who rise to the re-engagement of the disengaged and pull out the stops to enhance achievement. Every September they consider whether to enter learners for the November GCSE Maths resit.

Outcomes in the resit arena are relatively low, percentage-wise, but for each learner who achieves Grade 4, it’s a 100% life-changing achievement. National Numeracy figures show earners with a Grade 4 earn more over their lifetime than someone without. Helping learners understand this is critical for success. figures show earners with a Grade 4 earn more over their lifetime than someone without. Helping learners understand this is critical for success.

Seminal research from Robey and Jones indicates three barriers to success in post-16 GCSE maths resits: lack of confidence; relevance to their own circumstances and previous negative learning experience. Acknowledging these and having a plan to address them is perfectly possible.

The November exam sitting is only open to entries from GCSE Maths resitters. The challenge is deciding who to enter as the entry timescale is short, as learners are realistically facing a six-week resit programme. The summer slump of not doing any maths needs to be overcome, fast.

There are several ways to decide on November entries

1. A blanket approach – open to all.
2. Selected – enter those learners who were a few marks away from a pass.
3. Volunteers – those learners who opt to enter on the understanding that they follow an intense programme.

Let’s consider some essential elements to get off to a flying start.

Set the expectations

Work has to be done outside of the classroom. One weekly lesson will not be enough. A little maths every day – just 20 minutes – will have a significant impact on outcomes and help consolidate lessons. Building good habits, from day one, is imperative, whether that be exam questions, watching recommended maths videos, fluency practice through maths games or working through tutorials and a revision guide.

Revision approach

Learners have seen the maths before; they just can’t do it all. Revision means to look again, perhaps with a different lens, to “re-vision” the maths so learners see it differently. Spend time addressing revision as a process. Have learners engage in deciding the revision methods that are right for them. Consider these options with learners:

• How can they revise?
• What can they do or use to help them revise?
• Where can they revise and who with?
• When can they revise – find 20 minutes every day?
• Why is revision key to their success? Remind them of the benefits of gaining that Grade 4 early on.

Assessment objective (AO) 1 focus

50% of the foundation paper is based on AO1.

Use and apply standard techniques

Students should:

• accurately recall facts, terminology and definitions
• use and interpret notation correctly
• accurately carry out routine procedures or set tasks requiring multi-step solutions

Work on mathematical fluency and recall of facts. Focus on those first eight questions to maximise marks and minimise errors, they’re the easiest marks in each paper to get. Fluency underpins AO2 and AO3 so this work will support those areas.

Practice, practice, practice… not just until learners get the basics right but until they cannot get it wrong.

Problem-solving strategies

AQA has evidence which shows that when a learner comes across a question that they don’t like the look of, they become a page-turner. They won’t even attempt a part of it. The question context may also be unfamiliar and off-putting.

Good mathematical fluency and reasoning skills are the foundations of problem-solving. Explore the problem-solving resource for approaches and ideas.

Exam technique

All learners, at all levels, can improve their outcomes through good exam technique. The AQA document ‘Small things make a big difference (2.0 MB)’ can support this. Within this resource, there’s a focus on understanding the command words of questions.

There are many clues to what learners do well, and not so well. Using mock exam analysers provides another way to effectively concentrate on specific areas. Time and time again we read that learners struggle with the tools for the job – ruler, compass, protractor and using a calculator. As Doug Lemov says, ‘practice may not make perfect, but it may make permanent!’

Achievement and aspiration

Raising aspirations should always be a feature of our work. Why not ask those who received a Grade 4 to try again in June? Maybe a Grade 5, 6 or 7 is achievable. You never know, they might just do that!

To dive deeper into these insights, access our new, free teaching guide and six-week route map.