Intervention programmes in mathematics and literacy: teaching assistants’ perceptions of their training and support

We approach the recent argument put in this journal that teaching assistants (TAs) should be more strongly trained, monitored and supervised when teaching on intervention programmes. We suggest that the argument sits uneasily with 10 wider management and educational literature. We examine TAs’ experience of delivering important intervention programmes in mathematics and literacy. TAs report considerable variation in both their training and the quality of management involvement in their teaching. Consequently, we argue for an approach that includes TAs in a form of distributed leadership which recognises their specific 15 capabilities rather than the model advocated both by government documents and some researchers

How working on mathematics impacts primary teaching: Mathematics Specialist Teachers make the connections

We draw on analysis of assignments by primary teachers as part of the assessment for the Mathematics Specialist Teachers programme (MaST). In the assignment teachers are asked to work on some mathematics themselves, write up the mathematical part of their work then write about how this experience has impacted on their practice as a primary teacher. We focus first on case studies of teachers who included algebraic work in the first part of their assignments and look at what they say about the connections between this and their practice as primary teachers. Connections are made in a range of ways, but an overall finding is that teachers tended to focus more on the process of doing mathematics and the consequences this had for their practice rather than knowing mathematics. A further theme was feelings about mathematics, entailing positive consequences for practice, even where the initial feelings included negative dimensions. Examination of assignments on other aspects of mathematics confirms the presence of these three themes. Across all the assignments there was strong evidence that this experience of doing mathematics impacted positively on how teachers worked mathematically with their primary classes

Private Supplementary Health Insurance: Retirees' Demand

In France, about 90 per cent of the population is covered by private health insurance that supplements public health insurance. More than half of policyholders obtain their coverage through their employer. Considering the financial benefits associated with group contracts compared to individual contracts, we assume that switching behaviours vary among different beneficiaries during the transition to retirement. The gap in premiums at retirement between group and individual contracts gives the opportunity to study the marginal price effect on switching behaviours. In this study, we consider the nature of the contract prior to retirement (compulsory or voluntary membership group contract and individual contract) as an indirect measure of the price effect. We show the significance of this price effect as policyholders formerly enrolled in group contracts switch much more frequently than those formerly covered by an individual contract. We also discuss other determinants of the decision to switch private supplementary health insurance. The Geneva Papers (2008) 33, 610–626. doi:10.1057/gpp.2008.31