Teacher back from China visit
A TEACHER has returned from a monthlong research trip to China.
Lisa Finnegan, vice principal, year six teacher and maths specialist leader at Ash Grove Academy, researched the impact of Shanghai teaching methods aimed at deepening children’s understanding of mathematical concepts.
Lisa’s travels were funded by a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship Award.
During her travels, she visited a primary school affiliated to the University of Science and Technology in the Yangpu District of Shanghai and held a series of meetings with Dr Xingfeng Huang, Doctor and Associate Professor at the Research Institute for International Comparative Education at Shanghai Normal University.
The visit culminated in a presentation on life as a primary school teacher in the UK, along with current methods of British maths teaching and learning, to the primary maths teaching faculty at the university.
During her placement she was able to meet with the principal and the head of maths to discuss the benefits of the cultural exchange and understand more about current developments in the teaching of maths in Shanghai.
Lisa experienced first hand how the concept of variation is embedded into every lesson which enables children to make links between key concepts and strengthens their overall sense of numbers and calculation.
She said: “The fellowship was a fantastic opportunity to travel overseas to learn models of best practice in maths teaching.
“Aside from the cultural differences, I learned so much on how variation could be integrated to benefit British primary children’s conceptual fluency.”