PRIME Futures Program

Background

In June 2015, QUT through the YuMi Deadly Centre was chosen by CSIRO as the successful tenderer to deliver a mathematics education program as part of an Indigenous STEM Education project managed by CSIRO in partnership with the BHP Billiton Foundation. This program, Purposeful Rich Indigenous Mathematics Education (PRIME) Futures, works with teachers of Foundation (Prep) to Year 9 students in mainstream metropolitan and regional schools with higher than average Indigenous student populations and uses the YDM approach to improve student outcomes in mathematics.

Through the program teachers are equipped with the necessary knowledge of mathematics, mathematics education and lesson planning to be able to make teaching decisions based on the particular needs of their students. There is a focus on increasing teachers’ capacity to engage with Indigenous students and deliver mathematics education in an Indigenous context. The aims of the program are:

• increased participation of Indigenous students in mathematics
• increased achievement of Indigenous students in mathematics
• improved teacher capacity in the teaching of mathematics to Indigenous students.

YDC is delivering the program to a minimum of 60 schools grouped into 10 clusters with an estimated 336 teachers and 4200 Indigenous students across Australia from 2015 to 2019.

For more information on the Indigenous STEM Education project managed by CSIRO in partnership with the BHP Billiton Foundation, visit www.csiro.au/indigenous-education.

Components

Similar to YDM general pedagogy projects, the following components are included in the PRIME Futures Program:

• YDM PD workshops (4 × 3 days) across two years
• set of YDM resource books with information on the YDM approach and how to implement it
• YDM online support (email, help desk, discussion forum, resources, learning modules)
• action research training
• a YDC maths education practitioner as coordinator of each cluster.

Two additional components are provided in the PRIME Futures Program:

• one extra cluster-directed 3-day PD workshop for review, reflection and sustainability of the program
• four 1-day visits to each school by a YDC practitioner (one visit between each PD workshop).

In between workshops, participants conduct in-school trialling of YDM and train other teachers in the school, with online support from YDC.

Clusters

• PRIME Futures Cluster 1: Emerald region
• PRIME Futures Cluster 2: Townsville (1)
• PRIME Futures Cluster 3: Townsville (2)
• PRIME Futures Cluster 4: Brisbane North
• PRIME Futures Cluster 5: Port Lincoln
• PRIME Futures Cluster 6: Adelaide
• PRIME Futures Cluster 7: Brisbane South
• PRIME Futures Cluster 8: Far North Queensland
• PRIME Futures Cluster 9: Geraldton
• PRIME Futures Cluster 10: Albany