Mathematical Association of Victoria

24/02/2026

🏫 Guest speaker spotlight: Justine Sakurai
Embedding Numeracy Schoolwide

Numeracy is fundamental — but embedding it across learning areas can be tricky. This session explores how contemporary numeracy frameworks can support school leaders and teachers to integrate numeracy with confidence, including how it fits within models such as VTLM2.0.

Expect practical ideas for connecting maths to authentic contexts, building confidence with numbers and data, and strengthening problem-solving across disciplines.

And across the day, you’ll also hear from guest speakers Di Siemon and Andrew Lorimer-Derham.

📍 Bendigo – 13 March | 📍 Moe – 27 March
📢 Registrations opening soon!

24/02/2026

This week on Facebook we’re exploring a simple yet complex question: Why do we assess in maths education?

For many teachers at the beginning of their career, assessment can feel like it’s mainly about reporting. Reports to parents. NAPLAN results. ATARs. System accountability.

That is certainly one purpose of assessment, particularly for large-scale system-level measures such as Year 12 examinations, NAPLAN or summative school-based assessment tasks. However, different assessments are designed for different purposes and results should always be interpreted and used accordingly. Large-scale assessment and classroom assessment serve different goals.

In the classroom, assessment has a much more immediate and powerful role. We believe that our 2017 assessment position paper statement still holds true:
‘The fundamental purpose of evaluation and assessment is to improve student learning and performance.’
🔗 https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Assessment_position_paper_2017.pdf?

This is echoed in NCTM’s Principles to Actions, which states that assessment should be integral to instruction. It should provide evidence of students’ understanding of important mathematical content and practices and guide the next steps in teaching and learning:
🔗https://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Standards_and_Positions/PtAExecutiveSummary.pdf

When positioned this way, classroom assessment helps us to:
▪ identify misconceptions
▪ understand student thinking
▪ plan targeted next steps
▪ reflect on and refine our own teaching practice

The key question for teachers is 'What will this assessment tell me about student learning - and what should happen next?'

18/02/2026

Today our next cohort kicked off Build Me Up (VCE) in Bendigo!

Over terms 1-3, participants will work through a carefully sequenced series of sessions to:

• unpack Units 1–4 content with clarity
• surface and address common student misconceptions
• design effective teaching planners
• deepen assessment understanding across SACs and exams
• refine teaching strategies grounded in classroom reality

The energy in the room is focused, collegial, and purposeful - exactly what this program was designed for ✨

17/02/2026

Discover how children’s early drawings reveal the emergence of powerful mathematical thinking. In the first years of school, drawing becomes a vital representational tool — strengthening problem solving and building the foundations for understanding diagrams across mathematics and STEM.

Join this engaging session to explore the phases of drawing development and gain practical, playful strategies to support children through encouragement and purposeful guidance.

Secure your place and build confident, capable mathematical thinkers from the very start.

To learn more and register for this event please visit https://buff.ly/tu8VSlk

17/02/2026

This week on our socials, we’re revisiting one of the Big Ideas in Number, Trusting the Count.

Many teachers are familiar with the Big Ideas, but these core concepts are worth returning to, sitting at the heart of conceptual understanding, with Trusting the Count at the foundation. You might though be surprised to learn that there’s no universal consensus on what the Big Ideas in Number are or how many ideas are ‘big’ enough to count.

A leading authority on the Big Ideas is, of course, Emeritus Professor Dianne Siemon. This detailed paper she’s authored is aimed at teachers and unpacks the concepts of the Big Ideas and why they matter in classroom practice: 🔗https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/teaching-with-the-big-ideas-in-mathematics.pdf

Alternatively, in this this five minute video, Professor Siemon describes what she calls these ‘non-negotiables’, including a short example of what Trusting the Count looks like in action:
🔗
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPLWAzK0QSQ

16/02/2026

🎲 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿-𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗮𝗺
Transforming the maths classroom through intentional fun (3–6)

How do we take a subject students often describe as “boring, pointless and scary” and shift it to “𝗳𝘂𝗻, 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴”?

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore how purposeful play can boost engagement, deepen learning, and build meta-cognition, collaboration and creative thinking — with practical activities you can use straight away.

Also featuring insights from guest speakers Di Siemon and Justine Sakurai throughout the event.

📍 Bendigo – 13 March | 📍 Moe – 27 March
📢 Registrations opening soon! Read more here: https://www.mav.vic.edu.au/Conferences/Regional

14/02/2026

Calling all Australian primary school teachers

What food and nutrition topics should be included in the primary school curriculum?

Researchers from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition are inviting primary educators to share their insights on:

• The key food and nutrition topics that should be taught
• How these align with the Key Learning Areas
• Effective approaches for classroom delivery

The online survey takes 10–15 minutes and is open to registered teachers currently teaching in Australian primary schools, including generalists, specialists, casual relief teachers and learning specialists.

Participants can opt in to enter a draw to win one of four AUD$100 vouchers.

Have your say and help shape how food and nutrition education is embedded from P–6.

Scan the QR code or access the survey here: https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_6WLY2uyDD4yLLP8

13/02/2026

✨ What a day at RMIT! ✨

The VCE Conference in Melbourne is in full swing, and the atmosphere is buzzing.

Focused conversations. Practical ideas. Deep, productive learning happening in every room.
It’s one of those days where teachers leave with clarity, confidence, and things they can use immediately.

If you missed out on today’s RMIT event, you still have options:
✔️ Register for the Virtual VCE Conference
✔️ Join us at one of our regional conferences in Bendigo or Moe

Find full details and registration links here:
👉 https://www.mav.vic.edu.au/Conferences/VCE

10/02/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 | 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿

Curious about bringing authentic mathematical modelling into your classroom — without it feeling like an add-on?

Join us for a live virtual webinar designed specifically for teachers who want to run the Maths Talent Quest (MTQ) confidently and meaningfully at their school.

🗓 Tuesday 25 February
⏰ 4:00–5:00 pm (AEDT)
💻 Online | Live webinar

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝗻𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸:
• What the Maths Talent Quest actually looks like in practice
• How MTQ naturally embeds mathematical modelling into your curriculum
• How to run project-based investigations that promote deep thinking, reasoning, and student agency
• The logistics of regsitering, uploading and judging investigations

MTQ is more than a competition, it’s a powerful framework for rich, open-ended problem solving that aligns beautifully with curriculum expectations and real-world mathematics.

Whether you’re new to MTQ or looking to strengthen how you run it, this session will give you clarity, structure, and confidence.

👉 For teachers, by teachers: https://www.mav.vic.edu.au/Student-Activities/Mathematics-Talent-Quest

Register now and bring Mathematical modelling to life in your maths program.

The Mathematical Association of Victoria represents mathematics teachers and educators in primary schools, secondary schools, early learning and at home; We offer professional development and professional learning in and out of schools; MAV sells professional and classroom resources through MAVshop;...

10/02/2026

🌟 Guest speaker spotlight: Di Siemon (Emeritus Professor, RMIT University)
Multiple paths, multiple journeys – A chat with Dianne Siemon

Years of research and practice show what supports maths learning — and what doesn’t. The key takeaway? There’s no one “best way” to teach and learn mathematics.
This session will challenge assumptions underpinning current mandates and open the door to a rich professional conversation.

Plus, hear from fellow guest speakers Andrew Lorimer-Derham and Justine Sakurai across the day.

📍 Bendigo – 13 March | 📍 Moe – 27 March
📢 Registrations opening soon! Read more here: https://www.mav.vic.edu.au/Conferences/Regional

09/02/2026

February 11 marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 🔗 https://www.unesco.org/en/days/women-girls-science, so this week our focus is on diversity in STEM. We’ll be looking at what the data tells us about STEM-diversity, why this matters, what you might be able to do as a teacher to address this issue and where to find quality resources to support you.

We’ll begin with a focus on what is happening in schools in maths for our girls and young women, as (perhaps unsurprisingly) we believe that strong mathematical understanding and skills are essential foundations to success in STEM. We’ve updated our infographic from last year summarising what the latest data says about how our girls are performing, their confidence and attitudes and how they are participating in maths. There’s been no improvement and in some cases a widening of the gap or further deterioration in girls’ confidence, enjoyment and participation in maths. So it’s clear that many of our female students are less engaged, less confident and are participating less in maths than their male peers.

Other groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, learners from remote, rural and regional areas, as well as young people from low socio-economic backgrounds are also under-represented in STEM fields, including in maths, and show lower levels of confidence, achievement and participation.

Tomorrow we’ll begin to explore some of the reasons behind this and consider what teachers can do to change this.

Underlying data sourced from:
▪ NAPLAN National results: https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/naplan-national-results
▪ TIMSS 2023 Australia. Volume II: Student and school characteristics: https://research.acer.edu.au/timss_2023/4/
▪ Year 12 Mathematics Participation Report 2025: https://amsi.org.au/resources/reports/year-12-mathematics-participation-reports/

08/02/2026

MAV Community is back! We’re excited to relaunch our online home as a Facebook group for Victorian maths educators to connect, share ideas and learn together.

𝗠𝗔𝗩 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻:
• Swap classroom-ready tasks, resources and ideas.
• Ask questions, crowdsource advice and reduce that sense of teaching in isolation.
• Hear about MAV events, opportunities and new support first.

Whether you’re in early childhood, primary, secondary or VCE, if you’re a Victorian educator who cares about maths, this space is for you.

Join MAV Community on Facebook, introduce yourself and tell us what you’d love to get from this new space: https://buff.ly/KRpZOv9