A Level Maths: preparing to teach A Level for the first time
08 January 2025
Betty King, maths teacher
Betty King has been teaching mathematics for 17 years but started teaching A Level three years ago. Subject Advisor Steven Walker caught up with her to discuss how teaching A Level is different to teaching maths at key stage 3 or GCSE.
What is your teaching background?
I studied mathematics at university in France but originally trained as a language teacher. I then trained for secondary mathematics and have been teaching maths in England for about 17 years. I didn’t teach A Level at my first school, but I did sit in with a teacher that had an after-school class with one student (primarily for safeguarding purposes). I actually sat the A Level exams (the unitised Core 1–4 plus Mechanics 1 and 2) which was challenging but really good experience. I didn’t start teaching A Level when I originally joined my current school, but three years ago I took my first year 12 class and I really enjoyed the curriculum.
What’s your favourite maths topics?
I love process maths, so I love polynomial division, I love integration and differentiation. I’ve enjoyed learning more applied concepts that have more focus in the English curriculum. For example, in France we don’t initially make the link between integration and the area enclosed by the graph.
How is lesson planning different for A Level?
My planning for lower school lessons is around activities and progression, but at first my A Level planning was all around model answers for the examples and questions that the sixth formers would be doing in that lesson. My first class was year 12, teaching the AS content, and I wanted to control everything so I wouldn’t have to face unexpected questions.
At key stage 3 I feel I know what questions to ask and what prompts to use in order to ensure students understand the topic and don’t pick up misconceptions. When I first started teaching the A Level I was surprised by the lack of mathematical confidence of many of the students who had chosen post 16 maths. I needed to learn a new set of prompts to ensure students could successfully bridge the gap between GCSE and A Level.
I didn’t take that first class through to year 13 but asked my head of department for another year 12 class the following year. With the more realistic expectations of prior knowledge and the bank of model answers created the previous year I was able to enjoy the teaching much more. It enabled me to reflect on my teaching and tweak my pedagogy. I have really enjoyed teaching A Level so far and I have loved seeing the students through the next part of their mathematical journey. It’s so interesting to see the students put all the skills they have learnt in KS3 and KS4 into practice and become independent mathematicians.
What different teaching approaches did you use?
Before taking on my own A Level class I had observed colleagues teach. Their lessons involved a short exposition of the new topic from the textbook, followed by students working independently, or in pairs, whilst the teacher walked around the class offering support with whatever question was causing a problem. It seemed much less structured than lower school lessons, more fun and the teacher was able to teach freestyle.
I am very confident in my subject knowledge, but at first, if a student struggled to understand a new concept, I would worry that perhaps it was my explanation that had not been clear, or perhaps even misleading. I didn’t feel confident that I would be able to explain the error in a student’s working, but having my worked solution at hand meant together we could compare their work to mine to clarify any issues.
What about student expectations?
Initially I assumed that those students who chose A Level Maths would progress into the course seamlessly. I expected them to be mature, confident young adults, but the increased level of demand of the content can be very daunting for them. Having been used to getting everything correct in maths, they are often not mentally prepared for getting things wrong, and they are under so much stress to get the grades for their university places. In some ways it's like teaching year 7, offering reassurance and reminding them that it is OK to make mistakes in class.
I use exam questions taken from ExamBuilder at some point in almost all lessons to help them link the learning to their goals.
Why OCR?
As a department we do use teaching material from third party publishers that may have been designed primarily for a different exam board qualification. However, we like the OCR Maths A H240 qualification because the pure and applied are combined on exam papers. When the department was researching the specifications, it was felt that our students would struggle with a combined statistics and mechanics paper due to the different mind frame needed to switch between these strands.
What support have you found useful?
The most important support is from colleagues within the department. Each of our A Level classes is taught by two teachers, which is an amazing thing because it is reassuring to share a class with a colleague.
The online training from AMSP was really useful. The sessions are after school and the fact that it was with people that were not from my school meant I have completed pure 1, pure 2, statistics and mechanics. During the sessions, the atmosphere was very calm and I felt free to ask any ‘silly’ questions that I wanted. It also meant I could brush up the skills I needed and ensured I had a whole course vision, ready to teach the material.
The OCR resources on Teach Cambridge and the textbooks have been great, but having now taught A Level for a few years I am more confident with using third party resources that may not have been produced exclusively for OCR Maths A (H240).
In order to learn more about the specifics of the OCR A Level mark schemes I signed up for the exam review professional development webinars and A Level teacher networks for greater insight on the specifications.
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About the author
Betty studied maths at university and after her degree carried on studying English as a foreign language. She trained as an MFL teacher in Oxford Brookes but soon realised maths was her passion and entered a programme to transfer to maths teaching. She now teaches in a Hertfordshire comprehensive school. Betty still loves teaching after 24 years and still finds new interesting challenges every year. She is particularly interested in the history of maths and the etymology of maths concepts and tries to convey her love for the subject in her lessons.
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