Ensuring Australia’s maths teaching adds up to success

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Australia’s education system is not keeping pace with the world’s best. This is clearest in mathematics where we are witnessing declining standards and outcomes. Today the average Australian 15-year-old is around 14 months behind their peers from the early 2000s. How do we turn this around? What should teachers do to improve maths standards and engage with their students?

Join us at this live in-person event in Sydney on Monday 16 May 2022 to hear from two of Australia’s leading mathematics educators, Eddie Woo and Greg Ashman, as they discuss how students can benefit from high-quality maths teaching and how Australian schools can become a world leader in mathematical education. This special event will be convened by CIS program director in education policy, Glenn Fahey.

Ensuring all students have a qualified, capable, and motivated maths teacher is crucial to Australian schools turning around these diminishing results. After all, the mathematical skills that children develop in school have a long-term influence on their employability and wages in adulthood, as well as their ability to navigate the many demands of day-to-day life in the modern world. If our maths teachers aren’t held to a high standard, what hope is there for students’ futures?

Eddie Woo is among Australia’s most iconic educators. He teaches mathematics at Cherrybrook Technology High School, is Leader of Mathematics Growth for the NSW Department of Education, and is Education Ambassador at the University of Sydney. Eddie is internationally recognised for his WooTube channel. He is author of Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths (Macmillan Australia, 2018) and Eddie Woo’s Magical Maths (Macmillan Australia, 2019).

Greg Ashman is Head of Mathematics and Head of Research at Ballarat Clarendon College. In addition to teaching physics and maths, he is a prolific blogger and podcaster on educational policy and practice. He is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales and author of The Truth about Teaching: An evidence-informed guide for new teachers (SAGE Publications, 2018) and The Power of Explicit Teaching and Direct Instruction (Corwin UK, 2021).

Dr Jenny Donovan is the CEO of the Australian Education Research Organisation. Prior to this role, she established and led the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) as Executive Director for 8 years.

Glenn Fahey is program director in Education Policy at CIS with a particular focus on education finance and accountability. He is author of recent report, Failing to teach the teacher: An analysis of mathematics Initial Teacher Education (CIS, 2021).