Conference synopsis_MAVCON2026 - Flipbook - Page 126
SESSION G: Friday, 2pm-3pm (cont.)
G12 WHAT DOES A SUCCESSFUL
MATHEMATICS EXTENSION PROGRAM
LOOK LIKE?
Sub-category: Planning
David Treeby and Gareth Ainsworth, Scotch College
Y7 - Y12
How can secondary schools build mathematics extension
programs that are successful and sustainable? This session
explores the key ingredients of effective extension: streaming,
curriculum design, textbooks and resources, competitions,
mentoring, enrichment culture, and post-school pathways for
talented students. It also tackles the practical and strategic
questions behind strong programs and how to build structures
that survive beyond one passionate teacher. We will consider
which elements can be adapted when time, staffing, or
money are limited, and how schools can create meaningful
opportunities without relying on extensive resources. The
aim is to identify principles and practical steps that work
across schools with different levels of financial strength,
staffing capacity, and institutional support. This session is
listed as commercial because presenters will refer to their
own textbook, published by Cambridge University Press &
Assessment late last year.
commitment to change by modelling teaching practice,
providing resources, creating space for feedback, and using
achievement data to develop shared responsibility for
practice development. The session highlights how building
relational trust, demonstrating professional vulnerability,
maintaining leadership visibility, and securing executive
leadership support helped develop a shared commitment
to change. Presenters will also demonstrate how practical
mathematics tasks and opportunities for pedagogical
reasoning support teachers to strengthen classroom practice
without positioning improvement as “extra work.” Participants
will leave with practical leadership approaches for building
teacher buy-in within their own school contexts.
Key takeaways:
1. Making explicit ‘what matters’ through using student data,
modelling evidence-based teaching practice, and providing
teaching resources.
2. Building relational trust through leaders changing practice
in their classrooms first, making new practices purposeful to
teachers’ work, and creating space for feedback and dialogue.
3. Leveraging executive leadership support to prioritise
mathematics professional learning and consistent teaching
practice.
Key takeaways:
1. Identify the core ingredients of a successful mathematics
extension program.
2. Develop sustainable structures that do not depend on one
passionate teacher.
Sub-category: Mathematical content and concepts
3. Adapt extension opportunities for schools with limited
time, staffing, money, or institutional support.
Ferruccio Servello, Ave Maria College, Aberfeldie
Y7 - Y10
G13 WHAT MATTERS COUNTS: BUILDING
TEACHER BUY-IN THROUGH MATHEMATICS
LEADERSHIP
Sub-category: Leadership and teachers as learners
Donna Ward and Nessha Bateson, St Patrick’s Pakenham
F - Y6
How do middle leaders build genuine teacher buy-in for
developing mathematics teaching practice? In this workshop,
middle leaders at St Patrick’s Pakenham outline the leadership
actions that supported shifts in teacher confidence, shared
language, and more consistent mathematics teaching
practice. Participants will hear how leaders built collective
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G14 TEACHING MATHEMATICS WITH
IMPACT: A GUIDE FOR NEW EDUCATORS.
New teachers often have strong mathematical knowledge
but need support to structure learning effectively across a
term. This presentation introduces a practical framework for
designing coherent mathematics programs using a consistent
instructional model, purposeful topic sequencing, and
evidence-informed pacing.
Participants explore how a shared lesson structure supports
teacher clarity, reduces cognitive load, and promotes highquality learning. The session demonstrates how to plan
lessons that balance concept development, guided practice,
independent application, and reflection.
Teachers will also learn how to identify key mathematical
ideas, sequence topics for conceptual growth, and determine
appropriate topic lengths. Practical guidance is provided on
when to extend, compress, revisit, or spiral content based on
diagnostic evidence and student readiness.
