The Mathematical Association - supporting mathematics in education

Returning to Cambridge in 1947, I found mathematics easy: I did relatively little work and read no books, but more or less rediscovered the mathematics for myself by doing old exam papers, which enabled me to come top. I only began working hard when I stayed on to do research for a PhD in Topology under Shaun Wylie. He had been decoding at Bletchley during the war and did not give me any problems, which was probably a blessing in disguise because I then had to find my own. He diligently read and was enthusiastic about anything I wrote, and was like a father figure to me. I knew that two spheres could be linked in 5-dimensions, and so I tried to show that they could also be knotted. I failed, although I did construct elaborate algebraic invariants that turned out to be useful in other contexts – enough to get me a thesis, a Commonwealth Fellowship at Chicago, a lectureship at Cambridge and a fellowship at Caius College. I continued to try knotting spheres in 5-dimensions for 7 years, until one Saturday morning I sat down and tried to prove the opposite, to unknot them. To my astonishment by the end of the morning I had succeeded, and spent the weekend writing up a twenty-page paper. At 2am on the Sunday morning I was sitting on the lavatory contemplating my theorem, when suddenly it hit me that I use the same proof to unknot n-dimensional spheres in (n + 3)-dimensions, for all n. Once I had seen that, I was able to reduce the original proof in 5-dimensions down to ten lines, which I published as a one-page paper in the Bulletin of the AMS. This result initiated a new chapter in Geometric Topology, and was enough to provide PhD theses for a dozen of my research students. Subsequently, when Peter Edwards painted my portrait for Hertford College, Oxford, he wanted to paint some scribblings on a blackboard in the background, so I reduced the proof to five scribbled lines.

In 1963, I was invited to become the Foundation Professor of Mathematics at the new University of Warwick. I was 38 and had developed some fairly strong ideas on how to run a department and create a Mathematics Institute: I wanted to combine the flexibility of options that are common in most American universities, with the kind of tutorial care to be found in Oxford and Cambridge. We made the first six appointments in Topology (which raised some eyebrows) so that we could become competitive internationally for attracting research students, then the next six in Algebra, the next six in Analysis, and subsequently, the next six in Applied Mathematics, specialising in Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory. Being on the first finance committee of the university, I suggested that all subjects should have roughly the same staff-student ratio, which was helpful for mathematics, and allowed us to exchange four staff for money with which to pay the research students to help with the tutorial care of the undergraduates.

It was very exciting creating a new university, but all the administration did not leave much time for my own research in Topology, which dwindled to zero. We began running yearlong research symposia on different subjects each year, with many long-term senior visitors, and one on Dynamical Systems in 1968/9 attracted me to move into that subject. The following year I took a sabbatical at the IHES in Paris, where Rene Thom told me about Catastrophe Theory, which then became my main research interest for the next twenty years.

In 1988 I was invited to become Principal of Hertford College, Oxford, which did not leave much time for mathematics, but when I retired in 1995, I was able to start again working on difference equations and, with my daughter Mary Lou, who is a professor of mathematics in San Antonio, Texas, on n-dimensional Lotka-Volterra equations. Also, as befits a pensioner, I am increasingly interested in the history of mathematics!

In 1978 I was invited to give the televised Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution, the first time that they had ever been given on mathematics, since Faraday started them in 1820. In the six lectures, I stated and proved 21 theorems, each chosen for being surprising, intriguing, noble (in the sense of capturing the quintessence of some major branch of mathematics), and for having a short rigorous proof that I could write out on a single transparency. There was such a demand for more from young persons that the RI then set up mathematics master classes for bright 13 year olds, which have now been going for 25 years, and spread to over forty centres around the country. Master classes usually last for two and a half hours on a Saturday morning for ten weeks. I find that the 13 years olds can appreciate university level material, which enhances their school experience. Demand for yet more after attending master classes, triggered the creation of the website NRICH (National Royal Institution Cambridge Homerton), which is thriving and growing. I learnt much about teaching from giving master classes, and became generally interested in enrichment for the more gifted. It was therefore a great pleasure for me to be elected President of The Mathematical Association. At Council I find that I have listened more than spoken because the Association already seems to be run vigorously and creatively by many devoted and enthusiastic people.

Report From Council

The MA year just ending has been a good one for us. With the huge range of activities in which the Association is involved, not all enterprises are equally successfully but, on balance, we have done well.

As normal, Council has had four meetings since the last AGM. Meetings were held early in June, September, December and March. In addition, Standing Committee met three times. The Council meetings have been generally well attended and a great deal of business is handled. All the meetings were busy and much has been accomplished. There was time at meetings to discuss many internal and external issues, including the long-awaited recommendations of the Smith Enquiry.

In terms of overall membership of the Association, we are still recruiting more than we lose but new members tend to be institutions rather than individuals, which is a matter of regret. Continuing Professional Development is still thriving although the channel of its delivery has altered. Last year we employed Ros Hyde and Julia Dingle, who both worked for two days per week. However, when they made known their intention to move on from the MA at roughly the same time, Council decided that their replacement should be one person and on a full time basis. An appointment was made and so we now have a Senior Professional Officer, John Leigh, who started on January 1st 2004 and has had a very steep learning curve but has survived so far.

As always, our Headquarters staff continues to work hard for the Association. There has been one change in personnel. Sally Bryan after some four years has left to join her family business. Her replacement started a few weeks ago. He is Mr Brett Richardson, who seems to be coping well with moving into his new environment. All of the others, Linda Medhurst, Ann Goddard, Lisa Hall and Anne-Marie Brown continue to work very hard for us. At the top of the stairs is Marcia's office where she continues to work extremely hard for the MA. Without her driving energy and willingness to 'go the extra mile' the Association would not be nearly as well placed as it is. On behalf of all the members, I thank Marcia and the rest of the team.

Finally, I have the sad and happy task of reporting the comings and goings of Council members. At this stage, Council bids farewell to Angela Gould and Bill Brakes after a number of years as 'members without office'. Martin Bailey, the organiser of our Annual Conference, has completed his time as Chair of Conferences but is to continue as a member without office. Barry Lewis has completed his three years on the President's cycle but is to continue on Council as Chair of the Conferences Committee. Sir Christopher graduates to being Past President and Adam McBride moves to be President. I am happy to say that Helen Russell of South Hunsley School, North Yorkshire, joins as a member without office and we have also recruited Sue Singer as President Designate.

Conference Committee

The Annual Conference this year was held at the York University from the 13th to 16th April. Over 170 delegates attended for all or part of the conference.

The theme of the conference was ‘Maths Takes Shape’. In all, a total of 56 presentations were offered, organised into nine sessions over the four days of the conference. Together with the magnificent publishers' exhibition, there was a plethora of exciting activities. An entertaining and informative icebreakers session with Kjartan Poskitt of ‘Murderous Maths’ fame, a boat trip and a ghost walk were held in the evenings, together with formal receptions and the Annual Dinner with after-dinner speaker Des MacHale, who spoke passionately about ‘Maths and Humour’.

A most entertaining Opening Lecture was delivered by Cyril Isenberg, who gave us an entertaining demonstration of ‘The Geometry of Soap Films and Soap Bubbles’, that got the conference off to an excellent start. The Primary Plenary was given by Rob Eastaway on ‘Maths by Design’ and provided much of interest for the non-primary delegates attending as well as his target audience. David Acheson closed the conference in admirable style with his presentation ‘1089 and all that’, and even providing a spontaneous jam session on his electric guitar! Sir Christopher Zeeman delivered the Presidential Address to complete his year in office. All of these sessions were well attended, stimulating and entertaining.

The conference was a great success thanks to all the hard work put in by the organising team both before and during the conference. The Annual Conference is an ideal place to share ideas, meet and make friends, and recharge your mathematical batteries. It is certainly excellent value for money and I would encourage all members of the Association to come to Conference soon and better still, bring a friend! You'll go back to work after the Easter break feeling refreshed, better informed and more enthusiastic.

We look forward to seeing you at future conferences, the next one is the BCME-6 combined conference ‘Routes of Unity’, which will be attended by members of many different mathematical associations. It will be held at the University of Warwick from the 30th March to 3rd April 2005.

Publications Committee

Investigation into a house style for the Association’s publications is still ongoing. Barry Lewis and I have been in communication with people at Hodder Headline, who are very interested in forming a partnership with the Mathematical Association and seeking ways of cooperative working. If a successful partnership is established, their expertise in presentation and marketing will be invaluable.

New publications out this year include a set of Posters from the London Underground. These were originally designed by Dr A. D. Burbanks and published by the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge. We were contacted by the Institute regarding taking the posters on and after much negotiation they are now part of our stock.

The posters complement our own series of A-level posters, which have been selling well and no doubt add much value to the teaching of sixth form mathematics in many schools. The makers of the TV programme Grange Hill, approached us wishing to display the posters on a classroom set, as did an American film company with the same request.

Another new venture is the Pre-School Mathematics booklet aimed at parents and carers of pre-school children. The booklet was reworked and rewritten to take account of recent changes in pre-school education. Both new and established publications continue to sell well and Publications Committee continue to be pro-active in generating ideas and finding ways to improve and expand the Mathematical Association’s book list, especially in shortage areas such as primary education.

New books in the pipeline include Slices of Pie, Managing a Mathematics Department Handbook, Hurdles and Strategies in Teaching Algebra, 50% Proof, Celebrating Maths: ideas for activities for world faith festivals, Puzzles for the Website, and Primary Worksheets. We are most grateful to the many contributors but desperately need more volunteers to take ideas on and update our present stock in conjunction with the Teaching Committee.

During the year, the following members have served on the Publications Committee: Colin Abell, Peter Bailey, Bill Brakes, Ian Evans, Tony Gardiner, Susie Jameson, Mary Ledwick, Bill Richardson, Charlie Stripp and Sue Waring. Lisa Hall continues as the member of staff who serves the Committee. My grateful thanks to all these people for their support, their encouragement, their stamina and their exciting ideas.

Professional Development Committee

The principle objective of the committee is “to promote and support the professional development of teachers” and this year our activities have been many and varied. We are keeping a close, strategic eye on the CPD implications of the Smith post-14 report as well as developments at the TTA in connection with its new remit from DfES. In the past year we have worked with a range of bodies including The Teacher Training Agency, The KS3 Strategy, The Department for Education and Skills, The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, The Specialist Schools Trust and various Subject Associations’ Working Groups.

Advanced Skills Teachers
Along with the other main subject associations for Mathematics, English and Science, The Mathematical Association supported a series of three one-day conferences for KS3 ASTs. The conferences were funded and run jointly by the DfES and the KS3 Strategy. Delegates took home an MA Pack and were made aware of the support available to them from the MA and the activities we offer.

Becta (2003/4)
The project planned was successfully delivered to time and specification, following the difficult start reported by Ros Hyde. Essentially, the contract was to provide expertise (in the form of ‘Ask an Expert’ and termly newsletters) and to conduct a ‘Needs Analysis’, reviewing mathematics teacher usage and perception of the Becta ICT Advice website. The ‘Ask an Expert’ and termly newsletter activities have been continued into the summer term, and form a part of the current negotiations with Becta (and DfES) for the financial year 2004/5.

DfES KS3 Offer/Becta (2004-5 and beyond)
The new remit from Charles Clarke for Becta has resulted in a form of merger in terms of the responsibility and management of contracts that impact on ICT in Mathematics, with the ‘KS3 Offer’ to schools from last year becoming subsumed within the Becta organisational umbrella for the coming year(s).
With the help of other colleagues, we worked strenuously throughout the year to bring to fruition the Association’s offerings to the DfES to support the ‘KS3 Offer’. The aim of the ‘KS3 Offer’ is to embed the use of ICT in teaching at KS3. The MA successfully bid for funds to support a variety of CPD activities. Following several metamorphoses and a letter of intent in January 2004, the contract finally arrived on March the 8th, to be returned with a progress report on the 9th detailing progress against deliverables to the 31st! The contract provided for a revision of “ICT and Mathematics: a guide to learning and teaching mathematics 11-19” (produced originally by the MA for the TTA), for the development of CPD materials and for the development of a database of ICT mathematics experts. An interesting addition to the contract has been to work with a major IT company in developing innovative software to support teaching and learning mathematics, which was a focus at KS3.
At the time of writing Becta have agreed in principle to support the establishment, by the MA (with support from colleagues in ATM, AMET and NAMA), of a ‘National Pool of Expertise’ in mathematics/ICT to provide a variety of forms of support to teachers, schools and LEAs. Such a pool will be well placed to support/complement Charles Clarke’s commitment to a national CPD infrastructure with a focus on the subject.

ICT training for ITT Tutors
In March, the TTA funded four one-day workshops for ICT for ITT providers in mathematics. The MA successfully coordinated this programme (with ATM and AMET) and has consequently been funded to provide others in the autumn term. The workshops are part of the TTA’s strategy to improve ICT provision within Initial Teacher Training.

ITT Induction Pack
The TTA is funding the development of an Induction Pack for new ITT mathematics tutors. A collaborative project (with ATM, AMET and BSRLM) started in March 2003 to run to March 2006. Progress continues as intended under the guidance of Ros Hyde.

Online CPD (ESTUICT) Provided by The Mathematics Consortium (The MA, UCC and New Media)
The Association completed the preparation for the launch of this initiative at BETT 2004. All supporting documentation is in place and the initial group of mentors has been identified. We currently have two schools signed up to the initiative and have agreed to provide the school-based, face to face induction element of the package in June 2004 to a school in York. In return for providing online mentors to support the registered schools the MA receives a fee each time a school registers. These mentors, and the Induction Trainers are remunerated by New Media.

Specialist Schools Trust
Over the past year, the Association has been working closely with the Trust to look into ways of supporting schools, particularly those with a mathematics element to their improvement targets. The Mathematical Association had a stand at the ‘DfES Welcome Conference’ for newly designated Specialist Schools on 11th February and will also be participating in the next one on July 14th. Adrian Oldknow helped organise the two-day Specialist Schools’ Conference in Cambridge on 1st/2nd April. The presentation he gave on behalf of the Mathematical Association followed Charles Clarke’s keynote. We look forward to building on the relationships developing with both the Trust and individual schools.

Tcubed
The contract with T3, extended for 2003, has now been concluded and has not been renewed for the 2004 financial year. T3 throughout the UK and Ireland is now being run directly by Texas Instruments UK.

Branches Committee

This has been a fairly active year with many of the Branches putting on varied and exciting programmes for their members. All Branches would welcome new members from the general membership of the Association and I would encourage all members who live or work in the area covered by one of the Branches to go along to one of the meetings and meet their fellow mathematicians.

During the year the Branches Committee met twice, at the end of the Norwich conference in April, and in November at the Association’s Headquarters in Leicester. At this particular meeting David Poutney from the Liverpool Branch indicated that he would no longer be able to act as Secretary to the Branches Committee, and I would like to thank David for his help during his time as Secretary. Keith Cadman will be taking over from April 2004.

I am sad to report that the attempts to restart the Lancaster Branch as a Joint Branch with the ATM proved to be unsuccessful and the Branch has now closed. The West Devon and Cornwall Branch and the Cambridge Branch, both of which were inactive, have officially closed.

On a happier note I am pleased to report that a new East Midlands Branch, which is a joint Branch with the ATM, has been established and is based in Leicester.

Publicity and Membership Committee

A meeting was held in July 2003 to discuss publicity and membership issues such as membership recruitment and retention, mailing campaigns and exhibition attendance. In the last year the Association continued to provide a presence at various exhibitions around the country. The largest of these were The BETT Show in London, The Education Show at Birmingham's NEC and The North East Education Show. In addition, we have supported many smaller conferences and exhibitions including NAMA, MEI, the Specialist Schools Trust and our own One-day Gifted and Talented Conferences by providing a bookstall and promotional materials (though in some instances it is hard to assess the benefits of visibility given the level of returns).

Efforts have been made to enhance the Association's reputation and to encourage institutions and individuals to join - by targeting PGCE students through their university tutors and by providing packs of sample journals and materials to newly designated Specialist Schools. While the Association's Membership continues to grow numerically, the future well-being of the Association depends on attracting individual members as well as institutional members.

Editorial Happenings

My first task, as always is to thank, on behalf of the membership, all of the Editors, Assistant Editors, Production Manager, Advertising Manager and Reviews Editors. Although there are many people involved in producing the seven journals, there is a great deal of work to do. It certainly is a great commitment and we are very lucky to have such dedicated, painstaking and professional folk making sure that our journals continue to be the quality publications we now expect. Thank you.

Secondly I once again need to thank all those wonderful people who have been authors this year, both well-established names and new names. You are the life-blood of the journals. It is your copy that allows the editors to produce journals that are balanced, informative and topical. Thank you.

There have, as always been a few changes in the Editorial team, so I thought it might be useful to publish an up to date list. In alphabetical order (of journals) the current editors are:

In addition to the above journals the MA was pleased to support for one year, the launch of a new journal for able students (aged 11 – 18); the Problem Solving Journal, edited by Tony Gardiner. Now it is YOUR chance; all the Editors invite you to submit copy. (New authors please don’t be shy; the editors will give advice and support to those who need it.) Let’s be honest here, if we don’t get copy, we won’t have journals. We have journals covering the age range from 0 to 160 so if you are in that age range yourself please feel very tempted to submit something!

Library Committee

The Committee met on two occasions and comprises Mike Price (Librarian and Chair), Marcia Murray (Secretary), Selina Lock (University of Leicester Library), plus Mary Walmsley, Howard Fay and Mike Dampier.

New acquisitions in the past year have come from Mr R Carmichael, Mike Price, Douglas Quadling and the late Charles Attwood. The donations from Quadling and Price have strengthened the collection of books and periodicals on mathematical education from the 1950s to the 1990s, including international perspectives. Carmichael’s donation has usefully brought the collection of school mathematics textbooks up to the twenty-first century.

The Attwood donation of around 200 books has strengthened the collection in a number of aspects: history of mathematics and mathematical tables; mathematical recreations; and mathematics textbooks going back to the sixteenth century. Around two dozen notable works have been added to the University’s Special Collections and a similar number of works, which are duplicates, have been put in a bookcase in the Council room at the Association’s headquarters. The complete Attwood donation has been professionally valued for insurance purposes and to guide the management of duplication.

Duplicates from donations have been offered to members visiting the headquarters, and a sale of duplicate books at the York conference has taken place. Over £200 has been raised for the Library fund, initially to support the production of a new 50-page publication about the Library and its Special Collection. As part of this proposed publication, an accurate and up-to-date list of around 400 works in the Special Collection has been produced by Mary Walmsley. Colour images of textbooks from six centuries are also being produced to enhance this new publication and the Association’s website.

University Library staff have worked hard to keep up with the cataloguing of new acquisitions for both the Stacks and Special Collections. The scale of this work has required funding of around £1000 per annum. Overall, in excess of 3000 electronic records of Association stock have been created to date.

Stock withdrawal of some duplicate or peripheral publications – mainly offprints or pamphlets – is ongoing and incurs no University charges. Given the pressures on space, this work is important to keep the overall size of the Association’s collection manageable for the University. Major new building work for the University Library is planned from late 2004 and this may require the removal of all or some of the Association’s books to temporary accommodation. Access to the Library will inevitably be affected to some extent but the details are unknown to date.

The valuable Wittgenstein materials have been offered to Trinity College Library on a five-year fixed term loan. This will be reviewed annually by the Association, which may withdraw the materials at any time, giving three months notice. Trinity will, for their part, actively publicise this material both in printed catalogues and through their website.

The Post 14 Mathematics Inquiry

Making Mathematics Count, the report of Professor Smith’s Inquiry was published in February 2004. A response from the DfES was published in July 2004.

In its original submission to the Inquiry the Mathematical Association identified three key issues:

The response includes some welcome medium term measures to modify the curriculum and its assessment with QCA urged to involve the mathematical community actively. We have to wait until the autumn with the publication of Tomlinson's recommendations, for detailed longer term proposals for mathematics, including the urgent problem of how to reduce substantially the ‘burden of assessment' which has such a profoundly negative effect on so much classroom practice. Our original submission together with some further submissions on specific issues and our responses to the report and to the DfES’s response to the report will be found on the Association’s website under ‘What’s New’. The items are dated as follows: 27.2.03, 7.5.03, 28.5.03, 23.6.03, 18.8.03, 25.2.04 and 15.7.04.

Professor Smith’s report, Making Mathematics Count, and the DfES response can both be found on the DfES website at www.dfes.gov.uk/mathsinquiry.

DfES Innovations Unit Project 399

Developing Learners’ Awareness of Mathematical Thinking (DLAMT).
The decision to explore the possibility of a joint bid with the ATM to the DfES Innovations Unit was taken by Teaching Committee. The outcome was a bid submitted in the summer of 2003:
‘A proposal to set up a group based on the model of the French IREMs to explore the place of metacognition in the mathematics classroom’

The initial response was positive but required costing and a more precise time scale.
A meeting was held in September at the MA headquarters attended by Paul Andrews, Barbara Ball and Sue Welford for the ATM and Julia Dingle and Jane Imrie for the MA. Jennie Golding, who had contributed significantly to the formulation of the original bid, was not able to be present but her thoughts were represented by Jane.
The further information sent to the Unit requested £29 900 for the project. This was approved. The project acquired a working title of Developing Learners’ Awareness of Mathematical Thinking (DLAMT).
Sue Welford, LEA Adviser, identified five teachers from the Leicester area to work on the project. She also liaised with the Heads of the schools concerned to ensure that the teachers would be given support for their involvement in the project.
Paul Andrews acts as the project’s Academic Consultant and provides strategic management. He is leading the seminars and meetings, acting as a critical friend, gathering evidence. He will also write up the final report and produce dissemination materials.

Julia Dingle acts as the Project Manager (on behalf of the MA) and provides administrative management. She is ensuring adherence to timescales and budgets, organises seminars and meetings and liaises with the Innovations Unit. Jennie Golding, also on behalf of the MA, worked with Paul to plan and deliver sessions at the initial seminar which provided the theoretical context, motivation and inspiration.
Barbara Ball is also actively involved as a Teaching Consultant, providing support to the teachers. Administrative support for the project is being provided by HQ staff, and some meetings are being held at the MA’s headquarters.

The project commenced with a two-day residential meeting on 27th and 28th January 2004 and two further progress meetings have been held. All five teachers are very enthusiastic about the project, implementing new strategies with selected classes, reporting and analysing the impact. Even though they are experienced teachers, selected on the basis of being good classroom practitioners, they are all reporting changes in their own practice and beneficial changes in attitude and behaviour of their students. Levels of commitment and enthusiasm of all engaged in the project are very high.
The project completion date is September 2004, however consideration is already being given to a bid for one year’s continuation of the project in Leicester. The Unit has stated that it is not in a position to fund a roll out of the project to other areas; consequently alternative sources of funding for such a venture are currently being explored.

DfES Innovations Unit Project 398

Following a successful bid to the DfES Innovations Unit, submitted on behalf of the Mathematical Association jointly with the Association for Citizenship Teaching, the Beyond The Bar Chart project was set up to run for the duration of the calendar year 2004, and is now well under way. The project team includes five school-teachers – James Nicholson, Jenny Brown, Jenny Orton, and Andolie Marguerite, working jointly with Carole Buxton (Leicester University), Peter Wright (SMILE Centre), Alice Dorsett, the Senior Administrator for ACT (whilst the vacancy for their Professional Officer post is filled), and myself.

Primary Mathematics Challenge

Over 88000 PMC papers were dispatched to more than 2600 primary schools, with 61000 certificates for presentation in assemblies. Sales were up 42% mainly due to a direct mailing to primary mathematics coordinators funded by The Nuffield Foundation. We are very grateful for their support.
1355 top-scoring pupils were invited to take the PMC Finals in February this year. These young mathematicians must be among the best in the UK. There were 198 award winners who received PMC medals. Here is some of the feedback from pupils and teachers.

I liked the funny names I can’t believe I got a silver
Tricky but interesting Couldn’t be better
I didn’t panic – I just got on and did it!
Best test I’ve ever done
They didn’t fool me with that one!

Not too hard – not too easy – just right! Generated a lot of discussion     Parents seem keen on the PMC too
It got all pupils thinking     They loved the certificates
Super – easy to mark!
It is an excellent challenge     Excellent. Best ever.

Thank you to everyone on the PMC teams: Trish Morgan, Colin Abell, Ruth Swinton (nee Cullingworth), John Place, Rudolf Loewenstein and Margaret Williams. Robyn Pickles has left us (temporarily I hope) to start her family. Thanks to all in the MA office; as usual they did an excellent job.
Our target for November this year are 100 000 pupils and over 3000 schools.

Teaching Committee News 2003 – 2004

This academic year, Teaching Committee has initiated two successful bids to the DfES Innovations unit to fund joint projects with other subject associations:

Teaching Committee organises the representation of the Mathematical Association at QCA subject association meetings. The format and atmosphere of these meetings has improved over the last year and QCA has expressed a desire to canvass the views of MA members on common concerns and interests. This has resulted in QCA briefing papers being posted on the MA website. Please do respond to QCA regarding these briefing papers, stating you are an MA member. Please contact Teaching Committee if you have issues you would like us to raise with QCA.

A recent initiative for Teaching Committee has been to look at the MA’s provision for its junior mathematicians in the Society for Young Mathematicians (SYMS). There are currently about 80 members and we are keen to recruit more. How can we engage more effectively with junior members? Ideas to Teaching Committee please!

February 24 saw the publication of ‘Making Mathematics Count’, the report of the Smith Inquiry into Post-14 Mathematics Education. This, along with the Tomlinson Inquiry, is likely to have far-reaching implications for Mathematics Education. It is encouraging to see evidence of many of the Mathematical Association’s ideas reflected in ‘Making Mathematics Count’, including some of those relating to able pupils and CPD. Teaching Committee played a central role in formulating these ideas and giving evidence to the Smith Inquiry. A less encouraging aspect of the Inquiry’s report is that it largely fails to acknowledge the serious damage done to Mathematics Education by over-testing and league tables, which have encouraged superficial ‘teaching to the test’ and have seriously damaged pupils’ learning experiences in Mathematics. Responding to the challenges posed by ‘Making Mathematics Count’ will be central to the work of Teaching Committee over the coming year.

There have been some changes in the membership of Teaching Committee over the past year:

Doug French, my predecessor as Chair, is no longer a member of Teaching Committee itself, but continues to be extremely active in the MA as chair of the 11 – 16 sub-committee and a member of Council.

Lynne McClure, a primary specialist with wide-ranging experience, has joined Teaching Committee.

John Leigh, the new MA Senior Professional Officer, attended his first Teaching Committee meeting in January. I am very happy to welcome him to the MA and hope he will become a regular fixture at future Teaching Committee meetings.

I would like to take this opportunity record the dedicated and enthusiastic contribution to Teaching Committee made by Cathleen Brunt, who died last year after many years of service to the MA.

Many thanks to all those who give their time to work for the Association though Teaching Committee and its sub-committees.
Charlie Stripp, Chair of Teaching Committee

Reports from Teaching Sub-committees

093 Teaching and Learning Undergraduate Mathematics, Chair Adrian Simpson

TALUM undertakes research into the learning and teaching of mathematics at undergraduate level, and looks to have an input at national level. More recently, much fruitful work has been done in collaboration with the post-16 group, a report of which can be found below.

118 ICT, Chair Adrian Oldknow

There continue to be many initiatives in the air, and we are still doing our best to try to ensure that the MA continues as a major player.

(a) BETT show, January 2004 – Olympia. Adrian Oldknow again gave the ICT/mathematics seminar on behalf of the MA, receiving very positive feedback from a sell-out audience despite poor accommodation.

(b) DfES: The MA has successfully bid for a contract with the DfES in looking to support ICT in mathematics teaching, with exact details still to be negotiated. John Leigh, the newly appointed MA Professional Officer, will have a key role in this. Further details will be published on the new ICT page on the MA website as they become available.

(c) On-line CPD: the Mathematics Consortium (MA, together with the Mathematics Centre, University College Chichester and New Media) has the DfES contract for the online CPD project in ICT for KS3 mathematics teachers – now called ESTUICT(CPD) – Enhancing Subject Teaching Using ICT. We are following a model already developed by the Science Consortium, and we will have responsibility for providing and supporting a team of tutors to run face-to-face induction sessions and to provide on-line support via e-mail. We already have indications through MA, AMET, ATM and NAMA for potential trainers – but would still be glad to hear from people interested in being involved. The scheme has now been officially launched (at BETT), but KS3 consultants were shown the materials and website in training sessions this last half-term. The big unknown remains whether schools will have any funding to support the training.

(d) Hands-On Support: details are slowly emerging of another source of DfES funding to LEAs and schools to support teachers receiving hand-on ICT support in their own schools from successful subject practitioners. We are discussing with ASE, NAACE and other parties how such a provision can best be made available in maths and science – and what role the MA would play in it. As part of the KS3 Offer, we expect to be producing lesson plans and other resource materials which will be made freely available to schools and could be used to support HOS. There is £60m in Standards Fund for this in 2004/5 and 2005/6.

(e) TTA: the ICT/mathematics guidance, which the MA produced for the TTA July 2002, is still not available from the TTA website, but is posted on both the ICT pages of the MA website and Adrian Oldknow’s homepage (www.adrianoldknow.org.uk). It looks as if the DfES will pay for this document to be revised and updated with both a wide printed distribution and files for download from Becta site. In the meantime, plans to print it as an MA publication are on hold. The TTA have also asked the MA to coordinate (with ATM and AMET) the provision of four one-day regional maths/ICT workshops (Leeds, Birmingham, London, Bristol) in Feb/Mar 2004 for ITT providers. These will provide c140 free places for maths tutors and mentors. The TTA will also provide attendees with free copies of the new edition of “Teaching Mathematics Using ICT” and discussions are underway with DfES about other “goodies” which may include bursaries to enable them to take the Mathematics Consortium ESTUICT training.

(f) Becta: the DfES have given Becta a completely new remit – which effectively obliges them to undertake a 180 degree turn on subjects. The MA was given a small contract for work to be done in the current financial year (newsletter, contribution to website etc) and this is likely to be extended. Barry Lewis and Adrian Oldknow met with Becta’s Chief Executive, Dr. Owen Lynch, on 26th November where we agreed that MA could have a major role to play in the new-look Becta.

(g) Key Stage 3 strategy: The MA was the first subject association to respond to Anita Straker’s idea in July 2002, for the development of lesson plans and supporting materials which illustrate how aspects of ICT framework can be met in lessons taught to the Mathematics framework. We followed the same model as with the TTA guide, and held a working weekend at Iffley with a team of a dozen writers drawn from MA, ATM, NAMA, AMET and the KS3 strategy. Ros Hyde and Adrian Oldknow edited the materials covering sets of between two and five lessons in Number, Algebra, Data-handling, Geometry and Modelling over years 7-9. These were delivered to time and to budget during January 2003. We were subsequently informed by the strategy that these were to be part of a major focus on ICT across the Curriculum in 2004 – with a pack of materials given to consultants during training in Spring 2004 and disseminated to schools in Summer and Autumn 2004. These plans have apparently been scrapped, and the much edited mathematics/ICT materials are due to be posted on the KS3 strategy’s website in the next month or so.

120 Managing a Mathematics Department, Chair Robin Bevan

This committee has continued to make substantial and worthwhile progress. The primary aim of the group is to produce a manuscript, ready for publication: a handbook of advice and guidance for Heads of Mathematics. The content is intended to help an aspiring Head of Department prepare for leadership, and indeed for interview. A new Head of Department will find advice to ‘steer’ their work in the first years of appointment, and experienced colleagues will have a source of ideas to motivate and top assess their progress.

Membership of the committee has remained very stable allowing for the work to be progressed incrementally, without any need to be repeatedly re-visiting material. The efforts and perspectives brought by each member of the team, and their patience with me in the chair, are both considerable!

The greatest challenge is to ensure the text is, on the one hand relevant to Heads of Department in their current varied contexts, and will remain relevant over the coming decade. Who knows which of the myriad bureaucratic changes will remain, and which will pass into ever-fading memory?

The text is now well advanced – around 40,000 words have been drafted, edited, re-drafted, scrutinised and are now passing through another round of ‘consistency checking’. We are due to meet around Easter, by which time a final version will have been completed and compiled with photographs, and appendices. It remains possible that the text will be ‘presentable’ by the Summer of 2004. For further information please contact the chair on RBevan@kegs.org.uk

121 Primary, Chair Vacant, please contact the TC secretary

In addition to the meetings of this sub-committee with the QCA on a twice-annual basis, there are also meetings proceeding with Tim Coulson, director of the Numeracy Strategy. These have been found to be very fruitful in giving voice to primary teachers at this level.

123 Spreadsheets 14 – 16, Chair Charlie Stripp

This committee is involved in the preparation of resources on the use of Excel in mathematics teaching. Much work has already been done: new members are extremely welcome to come and contribute.

127 Mathematics Across the Curriculum, Chair Mary Ledwick

129 Post-16, Chair Peter Thomas

The sub-committee addresses issues in non-university post-16 education and develops materials to enhance provision. Its sixteen members, from schools, colleges and universities, meet once a term in London. As part of its work, the sub-committee and its members have been involved in the MA’s representations to the Smith and Tomlinson Inquiries.

The Annual Conference 2003 saw the publication by the MA of five A1-sized colour posters, largely the work of Clare Parsons. The posters, which have already been reprinted because of demand, are on e, logarithms, kinematics, populations and samples, and skewness. The production of further posters is under consideration.

Links with higher education are being developed through the TALUM sub-committee. The sub-committees hope to prepare a pair of complementary publications: Sixth-Form Mathematics Today with a readership in higher education and University Mathematics Today with a readership in schools and colleges, each to make people aware of what is going on in the other sector.

Work has continued, albeit slowly, on Mathematics – What Use Is It?. This project seeks to gather and disseminate examples of the use, in the world outside the classroom, of GCE Mathematics content. The sub-committee is grateful for the continuing support of The Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications for this activity.

A Post-16 Forum was held at the Annual Conference (and will be again this year), with changes to GCE mathematics being the primary topic of discussion. Several other sessions at the conference were led by members of the sub-committee.

During the year, Charlie Stripp resigned from the sub-committee after many years service to it, including terms as its secretary and chair; we are very grateful for his contribution to our work. If you are interested in the work of the sub-committee and would like to receive its newsletter or contribute to its work, please contact the chair, Peter Thomas, on tc-129@m-a.org.uk.

131 Mathematics for world faith festivals, Chair Geoff Tennant

The work of this sub-committee has progressed slowly over the course of the year, in gathering mathematical resources for the celebration of major world faiths. Volunteers to help in this work would be greatly appreciated, please contact the chair on gdt3@le.ac.uk.

132 11-16 Sub-committee, Chair: Doug French

This group has met three times since it was set up at Conference 2003 with meetings alternating between York and London. Apart from the Chair and secretary, all members are active teachers in secondary schools of very different types.

The group is working in two main areas:
Members are trying to respond to current issues in education concerned with pupils in KS3 and KS4. This includes responding to changes in the KS3 strategy and the post-14 enquiry involving meetings with Linton Waters (KS3) and with QCA concerning GCSE and other issues. We are working on a ‘position document’ on behalf of the MA concerning GCSE coursework.

The other area in which we are working is support for teachers. This includes the production of material to help teachers in the classroom, and a list of useful resources to be found on the web or in bookshops etc. We hope to publish practical resources for help with Formative Assessment as soon as possible, as well as a book list suggesting books, which would stimulate students, to be placed in school libraries and suggestions as to which of the KS3 resources have been most helpful for teachers.

133 Mathematics resources for non-specialist teachers, Chair pro-tem: Geoff Tennant

Other sub-committees during 2003

Contacting Sub-committees
Some sub-committees have pages on the MA website which can be accessed through www.m-a.org.uk. Unless otherwise specified above, the sub-committee’s e-mail address istc-nnn@m-a.org.uk, where nnn is the three digit number of the sub-committee.
Postal correspondence for sub-committees should be addressed to the chair at The Mathematical Association, 259 London Road, Leicester, LE2 3BE.

Membership of Teaching Committee: March 2004

Elected members
Jane Imrie Newark
Mary Ledwick Clitheroe
Lynne McClure Linlithgow
Chris Pritchard Callander
Ray Steele Leeds

Ex-officio members
Robert Barbour Secretary to the MA
Anna Dunlop Branches Committee
Tony Gardiner Publicity and Membership Committee
Susie Jameson Editor-in-chief
John Leigh Professional Officer of the MA
Marcia Murray Senior Administrator of the MA
Bill Richardson Chair of MA Council
Sir Christopher Zeeman President of the MA

The Web Site (www.m-a.org.uk)

There have been a number of changes and developments at our web site so this is a good opportunity to let you know about them and to tempt you back to the site on a regular basis. As the retail trade has it - you never get a second chance to make a first impression. The first set of changes is now complete and have been focussed on the technical aspects of the site - those aspects that impact on your first impressions and those that ensure you want to return. The first change was a 'make over' of the complete site's look and feel - a fresh and engaging design that provide an attractive but practical showcase for the contents. As you can see, this was inspired and complementary to the new logo and colour scheme that the association now uses on all its literature.

The second change was the implementation of a Content Management System. This is a system that lets the content providers put up additional material in a simple but effective way. Hitherto, considerable technical expertise was required to add or change the content. This new system enables users to control and to manipulate their material without being web experts. This is a sophisticated and powerful system that works well.

Finally, we have completed development of a ‘shopping-on-line’ facility for all the publications, conferences and courses that are currently on offer. This will make for secure trading cutting out much of the drudgery for the customer, and providing an enhanced distribution facility for the association.

Our next task is to refresh the contents and to devise new content for the site - and that's where you come in. Let me know what you would like to see and we'll do our best to provide it.

Problem Bureau

This has been a relatively quiet year. 13 problems were raised, compared with 28 last year. The range has been huge and tackling them has been fun. I am grateful to those who have helped me with the solutions.
The primary purpose of the bureau is to assist school teachers in their jobs. Only three of the requests fell strictly into this category, with an additional problem raised (indirectly) by a pupil.
Please send any requests via Headquarters.

Joint Mathematical Council

The Joint Mathematical Council (JMC) is the body which brings together representatives of many mathematical organisations within the UK. The list of all such bodies is too long to include but, as well as the MA, there are representatives from the ATM, IMA and LMS as well as advisers and other Associations. The geographical coverage is good with members from Wales and Scotland as well as England. The JMC meets three times per year (November, February, June) in the Royal Society. Meetings start late in the morning, the main, routine business is intended to be fitted in before lunch with, if possible, much of the afternoon being given over to a topic for discussion. I have attended nearly all the meetings since April 2001 and am considerably more comfortable than when I first attended. It is useful to know of other Associations and the work they do and to be able to meet a wider range of individuals than usual. As was commented in 2003, Professor Celia Hoyles, of the London University Institute of Education, was entering her last year as Chair of JMC. Her successor, Professor Bernard Silverman, Master of St Peter's College, Oxford took over at the November 2003 meeting. Two prominent members of the MA remain as office bearers: Sue Sanders is the JMC secretary and Adrian Oldknow its treasurer.

As was to be expected, a great deal of time was spent in discussion of the work of the Smith Inquiry and of ACME. It seems likely that the outcome of the Smith Inquiry will produce many themes for 2004-05. It was confirmed that the next ACME project would be about assessment and would include consideration of summative and formative assessment in mathematics as well as national tests. The issue of long term funding for ACME was raised as clearly there was much to be done and ACME was serving a useful role. Concerns were expressed about approaching the Government for funding. An additional ACME member, Karen Spencer, Head of Department, Kingston FE College joined as the FE/employer/vocational education member. Annie Gammon had to step down and her replacement is Colin Matthews (an adviser in Suffolk).

Over the year reported on here, there have been several discussions on the decline in numbers of students choosing mathematics to study mathematics at university and the threat that this poses to university departments. Both aspects of this create further problems relating to recruitment into mathematics teaching.

A fair amount of time was spent on aspects of ICME-10 (Copenhagen, July 2004). As the dates were early in July, it was more difficult for teachers in many parts of the UK to attend. Grants were made available both through the JMC as well as other associations.

As was noted in the last report, there is to be a major change in the next British Congress in Mathematics Education (BCME-6). The title is ‘Routes to Unity’ and it will take place at the University of Warwick from 30th March to 2nd April, 2005. The associations who normally have Conferences around Easter are joining in this event. A planning group (with significant MA representation) has had many meetings and good progress is being made. The format of the event is the fairly standard one of a number of plenary talks and many parallel strands. The opening speaker is Celia Hoyles and the closing speaker is Mike Askew, King's College, London. There will be a slot for Associations to hold an Annual General Meeting and Adam McBride will be giving his MA Presidential address. All in all, this is an event not to be missed.

The Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME)
The Post-14 Mathematics Inquiry

ACME continued to work closely with the Government’s Post-14 Mathematics Inquiry led by Professor Adrian Smith throughout the year. Following the two ‘open’ consultative workshops organised by ACME for the Inquiry in April and May, attended by approximately 100 stakeholders including a significant proportion of mathematics teachers, ACME members spoke at a final ‘closed’ workshop for the Inquiry on 5 September, which discussed proposals for 14-19 mathematics pathways within a new Tomlinson framework, as well as plans for a national support infrastructure for the provision of CPD to mathematics teachers. After further consultations with ACME, Professor Smith published his final report, “Making Mathematics Count” in February 2004, including recommendations for an expanded role and corresponding funding for ACME.

ACME held a joint workshop with QCA on 11 March at the Royal Society to consider the short-term, 14-16 recommendations of the Inquiry. The meeting focused on a mathematics extension curriculum at Key Stage 4 and a proposed Double Award GCSE for mathematics.

Meetings
ACME held 12 ‘business’ meetings between April 2003 and March 2004, as well as additional meetings as required. In addition, members attended or made contributions at meetings/conferences/workshops organised by the Specialist Schools Trust, Leeds Mathematics Teachers, London Mathematical Society Education Committee, UK Mathematics Trust Council, the Council of Mathematical Sciences, the Nuffield Curriculum Centre, National Association of Mathematics Advisors, DfES Standards Unit, the Science Council, and the Teacher Training Agency.

Other activities
ACME’s report on continuing professional development (CPD) for mathematics teachers continued to be disseminated throughout the education community. ACME responded to the DfES’s subject specialism consultation in July 2003. Over the summer, ACME consulted the mathematics community on thoughts on Post-14 mathematics pathways in a new ‘Tomlinson framework’, as well as on a draft response to the 14-19 Working Group’s progress report. ACME began its second policy project, on assessment in 14-19 mathematics, in the Autumn and subsequently heard oral evidence from: Lynn Churchman HMI, Specialist Adviser for Mathematics, OFSTED (December); Alice Onion, Principal Mathematics Consultant, QCA (January); Professors Alison Wolf and Margaret Brown (February), Kings College London. A questionnaire was sent out to the mathematical community in January to elicit written evidence and received responses from a number of organisations and individuals. It is expected that a final report will be published in the summer of 2004.
ACME selected a replacement Committee member for secondary education issues, Colin Matthews, County Mathematics Advisor, Suffolk County Council, and a new member for FE/vocational/employer issues, Karen Spencer, Head of Mathematics, Kingston College, both of whom started in January 2004. An independent evaluation of ACME by Dick Evans, Education Consultant, began in December 2003 and produced a report, with recommendations for increasing the impact of the Committee, at the end of March.

The British Mathematical Olympiad Committee

The 2003 International Mathematical Olympiad was held in Tokyo last July. The UK team of six emerged with one Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals, to put us 10th equal out of 82 teams, our best position since 1996. Geoff Smith, as leader, has continued with a more extensive training programme for the British hopefuls, including a joint session with the Hungarian squad at the New Year. The selection process for the 2004 IMO in Greece has included the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1 in December, back up to 850+ students after the previous year’s dip, BMO2 in February for 100 invitees, and the Trinity College Cambridge Training session in April for 20 students. The mentoring scheme, whereby a growing number of pupils are each linked with a mentor and given monthly problem sheets, has been going well.

United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT)

Approximately half a million entries, students from over 4,000 schools and colleges, take part in the three big challenges. In addition to these three Challenges, students who do well are invited to take part in the Follow-on rounds, the Junior, Intermediate and British Maths Olympiads and the European Kangaroo.
The 2004 IMO team has just returned from Athens, where the team of six secured one gold, one silver and four bronze medals, coming third both in the EU and in the Commonwealth.

As well as the written challenges, UKMT also offer a range of other events and activities for students and for teachers. There is now an established Team Competition each year for teams of four 12 to 14 year olds leading from regional competitions to the big national final. This summer another seven Teacher Meetings took place nationally – (free) one-day seminars entitled ‘Enriching Mathematical Thinking’

QCA Meeting with Subject Associations

QCA continues to hold joint meetings with the Subject Associations. AMET, ATM, MA and NAMA are represented at these meetings. Lynn Churchman, HMI, has also attended the meetings representing Ofsted.
Normally two representatives attend from each of the Associations. This year the MA has been represented by Charlie Stripp, Jenny Golding and Mary Ledwick.

In a new development QCA has invited the Associations to post its briefing papers on their websites, to invite responses from Subject Association members. These papers, along with the minutes of the meetings, are now posted on the MA website under ‘Feedback to QCA’. The briefing papers provide background into current issues which are of particular concern and then highlight issues for feedback from Subject Association members.
The meetings provide the opportunity for Subject Associations to raise issues with QCA which they have identified. These may then be included in future briefing papers.

This year’s briefing papers were concerned with:
14 – 19 longer term issues; GCSE and GCE; ICT; Curriculum and Assessment 3 – 14, Analysis of pupil performance; Curriculum and Assessment; Inclusion; Technology, including calculators in KS 1 to 4; Accountability and Assessment.

Court of the University of Bath

Court of Loughborough University

In his annual report to Court the Vice-Chancellor referred to HEFCE’s Performance Indicators and reported that Loughborough University was shown to offer the best value for money research in the UK. The University Council is giving top priority to research, building on high teaching ranking already achieved (second only to Cambridge in Sunday Times University Guide 2003). Numbers and quality of applicants continue to be good, and international students are coming in increasing numbers, particularly at postgraduate level.

A 160-acre extension to the campus obtained by the recent acquisition of adjacent land, formerly owned by Advantica (British Gas Research), offers tremendous opportunities for the future as researchers and industrial partners move in. A Mathematics A-level / AS-level “support card” has been distributed to schools and issued to pupils attending university recruitment fairs. This contains many facts and formulae on an A4 sheet, which folds down to credit card size. The Faculty of Engineering and the Mathematics Education Centre produced it. Pupils and teachers alike have received the card very well and, as a result, a similar one has now been produced for Physics A-level.

The Loughborough led HELM (Helping Engineers Learn Mathematics) project is seeking to improve the mathematical abilities of future engineers. This £250,000 project with the universities of Hull, Reading, Sunderland and UMIST, is funded by HEFCE for 2002-2005.
Loughborough was once again crowned overall British Universities Sports Champions, winning the Men’s title for the 23rd year running and the Women’s for the 25th year! Loughborough Students emerged as individual or team champions in 48 sports.

Membership Recruitment

The MA continued to promote the many benefits of membership to 23,000 primary and 6,000 secondary schools in the UK, through direct marketing mailing campaigns. Almost 60,000 individual mail packs were posted to schools in 2003 via an experienced direct mail company, Education Direct. Campaigns were, once again, implemented in the Spring and the Autumn. All UK primary schools also received full details and an application form for the Primary Maths Challenge, held in November 2003. This additional mailing campaign made a major contribution to over 2,600 schools taking part in the latest PMC, up by almost 1,000 on the 2002 PMC figure. The results of the membership recruitment campaigns were, once again, extremely encouraging. During 2003 almost 950 new individual and institutional members were recruited, of which well over 500 were directly attributable to the mailing campaigns - which are all carefully tracked to measure the costs incurred and the income generated from membership fees paid by the extra new members. The use of direct mail, as a tried and tested way of recruiting new members cost-effectively, will continue in 2004. Overall membership of the MA is predicted to be well over 5,000 by 2005, continuing the significant year-on-year growth recorded in each of the last three years.

Headquarters

I am very pleased to report that headquarters continued to be a hive of activity during 2003. Staff worked hard. I was sorry that Sally Bryan, the Membership Secretary, left at the start of April 2004. Her position was filled by Brett Richardson. Brett started before Sally left and so she was able make a comprehensive handover to Brett. The Primary Mathematics Challenge entries continued to increase and, with the additional help of two temps, our deadlines were met. The popular one-day Gifted & Talented Conferences were repeated and Lisa Hall once again had responsibility for the processing of applications. The annual audit passed with ease and a pleasing set of accounts was published. Once again we started preparations for the Annual Conference in York early which helped with the workloads during our busy period. (I shall miss Martin Bailey’s expertise as chair of conference committee but am looking forward to working with Barry Lewis, his successor).

I am very proud of the way the HQ team have worked to ensure the efficient through-put of work and thank them for their commitment to their jobs and the Association’s well being. I would also like to thank members of Council for their support and appreciation of the work that we do at HQ. Membership, including direct subscriptions, at December 2003 is 6340.

At April 2004, the Headquarters Team of Six is:- Senior Administrator - Marcia Murray, Bookkeeper - Linda Medhurst, Membership Officer – Brett Richardson, Clerical Administrator – Lisa Marie Hall, Sales Administration - Ann Goddard, Clerical Assistant - Anne-Marie Brown

Rules & Regulations

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL : YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2003

Legal and administrative status
The Mathematical Association was founded in Great Britain in 1871. The Association is registered as a charity under number 313281.

Constitution and objectives of the Association
The objects of the charity are to improve the teaching of mathematics and its applications and to provide a means of communication amongst students and teachers of mathematics for this purpose, and to take such measures as may appear expedient to advance the views of the charity on any question affecting the study and teaching of mathematics and its applications. Such measures include the provision and maintenance of the library, publication of periodicals and other items and the holding of meetings and conferences.

Branches and Corresponding Associations
With the approval of the Council, Branches of the charity may be formed. The Council may also approve the designation of other Associations as Branches, or as Corresponding Associations.
During the year, there were 13 established branches of the charity and 2 designated branches.

Members and officers
The charity consists of personal members, including honorary members, and institutional members.
An elected Council monitors the business of the Association. There are three Officers (Chair, Secretary and Treasurer), elected annually (to each office) who are not allowed to hold office for more than five years; there is a President, President Designate and Immediate Past President, who each hold office for a period of one year; seven Council members each act as the chair to a particular committee, who may serve one term of four years + one year within that office and there are nine members without office, who may serve two terms of three years. The Association’s members, at the Annual General Meeting, elect all members of Council, with the exception of the President, who is elected by Council.

Risk Management
The trustees have examined the major strategic, business and operational risks that the charity faces and confirm that systems have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks.

Reserves Policy
It is the policy of the Association to maintain sufficient general funds to cover management, administration and support costs, and to enable it to respond to any further approved projects, which arise from time to time.

Trustees
The trustees who served during for part or all of the year were:
Dr S E Sanders, Mr P Metcalf, Mr W P Richardson M.B.E., Dr A D Gardiner, Miss S G Jameson, Mr M Bailey, Prof A McBride, Mr R Barbour, Mr D French, Mr D Hodgson, Dr W Brakes, Mr C Stripp, Prof A Oldknow, Dr P Harris, Dr A Barnard, Ms A Gould, Mr B Lewis, Mr M Fox, Mr N Lord, Mrs R Swinton (nee Cullingworth), Mr K Cadman, Prof Sir Christopher Zeeman, Mr M Basharat, Mrs J Imrie.

Review of the financial statements for the year
The charity achieved a surplus of £75,989 for the year (2002 £56,019).
The charity is mindful of its responsibility to improve the financial standing of the organisation and Council has already put in place a rigorous policy towards the management of its resources and finances, which is now beginning to reap benefits. The long?term future of the charity depends upon its ability to maintain and strengthen its membership base as well as ensuring that sufficient funding is secured to support its various undertakings.

The Council has agreed the following transfers to Designated Funds during the year:
a) £10,000 to Buildings Maintenance Fund for the upkeep and maintenance of the headquarters.
b) £30,000 to MA Development & Special Projects Fund.
c) £5,800 to Life Membership Fund.
d) £7,400 to ICME Fund.
e) £6,000 to Website Development Fund

Auditors
A resolution proposing the re?appointment of PKF as auditors was proposed and agreed at the Annual General Meeting.

Principal address The principal address of The Mathematical Association is 259 London Road, Leicester LE2 3BE United Kingdom.

STATEMENT OF COUNCIL'S RESPONSIBILITIES

Law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Council to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the financial activities of the charity during the year and of its state of affairs at the end of the year. In preparing those financial statements, the Council is required to:

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT: YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2003

BALANCE SHEET: 31 DECEMBER 2003

Approved by the Council on 14 April 2004
Mr W. P. Richardson M.B.E. ? CHAIR OF COUNCIL Mr M. D. Fox ? TREASURER

ANNUAL REPORT 2003-2004

President’s Report