Caroline Dixon – HLTA at SirHenryCooperSchool, Kingston upon Hull

Caroline works mainly within the mathematics department at SirHenryCooperSchool. Her role here includes having responsibility for intervention groups within Key Stage 3. These are groups of about 6 pupils who are targeted at specific levels, for example, her Year 9 group is targeted at Level 5. She also supports pupils within the classroom.

Though she has not yet undergone assessment, Caroline had already embarked on HLTA preparation before the additional financial support for mathematics and science was made available.

Caroline feels that the main benefits of HLTA preparation and training have been to increase her confidence and to make her realise that she is already working at a professional level. “It has set out new goals and opened new doors I’d never considered”. She also commented that preparing for HLTA status has helped her see the ‘bigger picture’, appreciate where her role and her lessons fit in and has given her a better understanding of how young people learn.

Being part of the mathematics department has helped Caroline improve her knowledge not just of mathematics but also of the associated pedagogy. Her confidence in the subject has grown. When it became available, Caroline decided that she would still benefit from further subject training and is currently undertaking a nine day mathematics programme funded by her Local Authority. She felt that she wanted to be more confident that she was getting the theory across to her students. The course has already helped her with this and she feels she now has a greater appreciation of the misconceptions learners hold and also of different approaches to different types of problems.

Andy Currie, the Head of Mathematics at SirHenryCooperSchool, values Caroline’s contribution to the department. Without Caroline within the department the small group work which has been so valuable in raising attainment would not be possible. Having Caroline timetabled within the department also means that you know she will be there and not taken away for support or intervention work elsewhere. Because she is part of the department she has a greater sense of ownership of what she does and because the students are used to seeing her within the department they perceive Caroline as part of the mathematics team.

Caroline’s progress through her subject training programme is being followed by Teachers’ TV.