Mathematics Education

The Open University opened its Centre for Mathematics Education in 1983. Since then it has provided mathematics courses to thousands of teachers and published teaching resources, applets, guidance and research articles in mathematics education.

Our mission is to support teachers involved with mathematics from nursery to tertiary. Our research covers: Participation in mathematics including gender issues and mathematical resilience, Mathematics teacher learning, and Technology in Teaching and Learning.

The Mathematics Education team:

• writes and provides tutor support for specialist mathematics education modules in the OU distance-learning degree called ‘Mathematics and its Learning’. These can also be taken as stand-alone modules or part of other OU degrees.
• Designs bespoke courses for teachers and schools, either online or delivered face-to-face, based on research in mathematics teacher development.
• provides free online courses on Open Learn that bring teachers and parents up to date with the mathematics that is taught in schools. These last from 5-24 hours of private study.
• works with the Maths Hubs, Royal Institution, STEM Ambassadors and Science Fairs to support public engagement with mathematics.
• engages with current research by participation in national and international Mathematics Education communities, conferences, etc.