Mathematics Support for Students on Vocational Courses

1. Mathematics Support for Students on Vocational Courses By Susan Starkings London South Bank University

2. The Skills Unit Team • Manager - Susan Starkings • Academic Staff - Catherine Boyle - Plus 50-70 HPL’s - IT & Library academic staff • Administrators - Ahmed Mohamed (F/T) - Dhurium Kurcuku (P/T)

3. Responsibilities • Manage the Academic & Admin staff, conduct appraisals, recruitment of new staff etc. • Develop new & innovative ways of providing service to LSBU students • Manage budgets of p/t teaching hours and operational budget of Pre-Study English course • Organise programmes of support for students • Manage quality assurance • Ensure that the unit complies with QAA requirements, & HEFCE guidelines

4. Responsibilities • Training and mentoring of academic & support staff • Scholarship & research • Teaching/academic/professional activities • Updating academic knowledge & education initiatives • Be active in LSBU central processes e.g. validations and projects ( e.g. Change Academy Project) • Develop teaching materials

5. SWOT – Strengths of the Skills Unit • Established unit within LDC & LSBU (since 1998) and grown significantly since then. • Service 1998 2004-05 Fast Track U/G 06-80 350 Fast Track P/G - 65 Fast Track Clearing - New Course Pre-Study English - 100 Moving –On - 98 Maths for Social Workers 25 Foundation 40 61 Maths Support 238 975 Study Skills 342 1533 English - 3577

6. Strengths of the Skills Unit (con’t) • Experienced Academic staff with expertise in Maths, Statistics, English, Study Skills & Communications & IT • Classes/support provided at Essex & Southwark campuses • Student centred teaching • Run a good informal staff development programme • Teaching resources on web and in teaching room

7. SWOT – Weaknesses of Skills Unit • Lack of office space in Caxton House • Room usage for support classes - shared • Limited access for disabled students • Lack of IT equipment in teaching rooms • Turn over of staff • Training & mentoring takes up a lot of time

8. SWOT - Opportunities • Widening Participation agenda just keeps growing • Increase usage levels by students • Greater/closer working with the IT/Library staff

9. SWOT - Threats • Faculties wanting to do their own thing • Academic Staff moving to other institutions or LSBU faculties

10. PGCE/ITT Questions Number of marks available • Mental arithmetic 12 marks (12mins) • Interpreting and using statistical information 7marks • Using and applying general arithmetic 9 marks • Test is timed 48 minutes. 36 minutes for the 16 longer questions. • The total marks 28 and the pass mark is 60% i.e. candidates must get at least 17 marks to pass. • For the numeracy test an on-screen calculator is available for use on all questions except the mental arithmetic section.

11. Example Mental Arithmetic Questions • 1. The entrance fee for an exhibition is three pounds seventy five. What will be the total entrance fee for a school party of 50 pupils? • 2. Two-fifths of a class of twenty-five pupils were girls. What percentage were boys? • 3. All 300 Year 11 pupils in a school took GCSE English. The number of pupils gaining grade C or above increased from 85% in the mock exam to 93% in the actual exam. How many more pupils gained grade C or above in the actual exam than in the mock exam?

12. Example Longer Questions

13. Numeracy Test Questions • Using the information given, indicate which of the following are true:  •  a quarter of the pupils achieved a result of at least 50% in both the practical and theory components • half of the pupils achieved a result of at least 50% in the practical component • the two pupils with the lowest marks in the practical component also had the lowest marks in the theory component • Answer....................

14. Example Business Studies • Increasing by a Percentage • Suppose we want to increase 200 by 10% • We get 10% of 200 (the increase) and add this to 200. • A quicker way is to multiply 200 by 1.2 i.e. 200 x 1.2 = 240 but why 1.2? 20% as a fraction is 0.2 so we want to increase the original number by a faction 0.2 i.e. we want the original number + 0.2 of the original number. This is altogether 1.2 of the original number or the original number x 1.2. • As a formula: New value = Old value (1 + %increase/100)

15. Example Nursing

16. Maths for Social Workers The following are the expenditures for a department for 2004: Monthly expenditure for 2004 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Amount(£) 227 254 212 227 220 236 254 234 543 545 550 652 • Display this information graphically • What is the average expenditure for the year? • Comment on the years expenditure for this department and its possible future expenditure. ( 10 marks)

17. Maths for Social Workers • As a social worker you will be expected to complete expenses clams. During December you incurred the following expenses, which you need to claim for: • Attendance at court incurred travelling 53 miles round trip. • Train fare to Plymouth £64. • Overnight accommodation in Plymouth cost £49.95.

18. Maths for Social Workers • Lunch in Plymouth cost £8.90 • General travelling to visit clients 247 miles. • Mileage allowance is 32 pence per mile. • What is the total cost of expenses for December that you will claim back? • ( 6 marks)

19. Summary • Keep pool of staff able to teach at the level required (i.e. Pre-entry to Postgraduate) • Administration & Organisation increases as the ‘service’ expands • Running all year has holiday issues • Funding • Teaching materials Quotes: ‘I do appreciate what the tutors did for me’ ‘The best aspect of the course was the amount of knowledge I have attained in such as short amount of time.’

20. Skills Unit Any Questions ?