It has been a while since we introduced our tutors formally on this blog and, in that time, some tutors are sadly no longer with us, and some new tutors have joined from other areas in the field of maths education.
Barbara Allen
My school teaching career was in middle schools in Worcestershire where I specialised in mathematics. I developed an interest in girls’ attitudes to mathematics and that became the focus of the dissertation for my MEd. My PhD focuses on Pupils’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classrooms and found the ways that pupils think they learn most effectively.
In 1994, I moved to the Open University as a Research Fellow and in 2000 I became the Director of the Centre for Mathematics Education. I continued as the Lead Academic for Mathematics Education until my retirement in May 2017.
I have written on a large number of OU modules from Access to Masters Level. For some reason, I always ended up writing the sections on fractions!
I am the co-author of the children’s book series The Spark Files and the writer of the children’s radio series The Mudds starring Bernard Cribbins and Mark Benton. Now available on iTunes!!
My main hobby has always been playing the clarinet. I play in Bewdley Concert Band and also play alto saxophone in the Wyre Forest Big Band. Now that I am retired, I am learning to play the xylophone and threatening to learn the drums. I also volunteer at Bewdley Museum and work with school groups that are learning about WWII.
Thabit Al-Murani
Hello, I am Thabit and I am an associate lecturer teaching on the ME322 course.
I have been involved in maths education for 25 years. Over this time, I have been a teacher, head of department, researcher, and more recently I started my own freelance business offering maths education consulting and specialised tutoring. My work has offered me the opportunity to live and work in several countries including the US, Sweden, Australia, Malaysia, and the UK.
I have a DPhil in Mathematics Education and my research interests are variation theory, the teaching and learning of algebra, and SEN mathematics education.
Ian Andrews
Hello, I’m Ian and I joined the OU as an Associate Lecturer in 2022.
I studied Maths and Statistics at university and once completed, I worked in data analysis in London for several years. Wanting a change of career, I started a PGCE in 2007 and have been a maths teacher ever since!
In 2015 I joined an 11-18 comprehensive secondary school in West Sussex as Head of Maths and member of the senior leadership team. I have also worked with the Sussex mathshub and lots of locality schools to improve maths in Sussex.
In 2019 I joined AQA (alongside my full time head of maths role) as Chair of Examiners for GCSE maths, GCSE statistics and L2 Further maths. This work involves running training and events for AQA and helping set grade boundaries for their exams.
I really enjoyed learning again when I took my PGCE and in 2013 I completed an MA in Education studies. Engaging with academic research whilst being a teacher has been hugely beneficial to my practice and my department.
When not teaching I enjoy music, playing football, running and acting as a taxi service for my 2 children.
Nick Constantine
Hello everyone, I am Nick Constantine associate lecturer for the Open University, I tutor on ME620, ME321 and ME322. I also tutor on MU123 and MST124. I have been working with the OU for 9 years but I also used to tutor on the PGCE course from 2000-2002. I have had a very mixed career. My first degree was Astronomy and Astrophysics at Newcastle University, I then joined the Royal Navy as aircrew for a little while. I left way back in 1989 and did several ‘gap’ jobs before retraining as a Mathematics teacher and PE teacher.
My teaching career followed the standard path up to Deputy Head/acting Head but I always attended many mathematics training weekends with the ATM. I also used to attend the MEI further mathematics conference in Nottingham for a few years. I was a Head of Mathematics in a 13-19 high school in Northumberland from 1998-2004 and enjoyed the process of organising and planning activities that reflected the fundamental philosophy of the OU ME(x) modules.
I also studied for a Master’s in Education from 2000-2002, one of my dissertations was ‘conjecture and proof in the most able’ (ME822), I really enjoyed designing my own research project and had a wonderful class to try some tasks with. For me, if you can change the language of the mathematics in the classroom from a didactic controlling language to an atmosphere of questioning, conjecturing with learners and investigating relationships then you are really at the top of your game!
I now work part time as a teacher and OU lecturer. I also work as a running and yoga coach and operate a small business where I organise retreats and workshops for private groups in Europe and in Scotland. Other hobbies are reading, radio 6 music, cooking and doing Maths problems!
Tom Cowan
I have been an Associate Lecturer with the OU since 2008 when I worked on the MEXR624 summer school each year in Bath. When that ended I was lucky enough to be offered a chance to work on an earlier maths education module. I currently tutor on all the modules which we offer in the Mathematics Education suite of modules at Level 3 (ME620, ME321 and ME322) and also E209 – Developing subject knowledge for the primary years.
I completed my Master’s Degree with the OU in 2010 so remember what it was like to study at a distance and cramming in study whilst juggling other things in life.
My full-time role is as the Programme Lead of an initial teacher education programme at the University of Plymouth. I support the education and development of new Primary teachers on the BEd and PGCE – looking after those students with a specialism in mathematics. Prior to this I was primarily involved with working with Secondary and Primary schools to support them with mathematics in challenging inner-city schools around Manchester and Salford.
I’ve never really left education and have found my next challenge in aiming to complete my Doctorate in Education in 2026! Hopefully I’m well on my way to becoming Dr. Cowan!
When I have some spare time, I enjoy going to the theatre, supporting Liverpool FC and Widnes RLFC and work as an officer with the Boy’s Brigade which keeps me in touch with further voluntary work (I did say spare time right?)
Jeffrey Goodwin
As well as being an Associate Lecturer for ME321, I also tutor on ME620. I first worked as a tutor for the OU in the 1980s on EM235 Developing Mathematical Thinking and returned to my current role of Association Lecturer in September 2014.
I was a classroom teacher for 10 years, working in Secondary and Middle schools. I moved into the advisory service in 1980 as Head of the Hertfordshire Mathematics Centre. I worked in Initial Teacher Training and running CPD courses for teachers; being head of mathematics education at Anglia Polytechnic University. For four years from 1986, I worked for the National Curriculum Council on a curriculum development project: Primary Initiatives in Mathematics Education (PrIME). I have always had an interest in assessment and testing and in 1998 was appointed to establish and lead the Mathematics Test Development Team at the QCA. We developed the end of key stage tests and other optional tests for all three key stages. I was in this role for eight years and then moved to become Head of Research at Edexcel and then Pearson Research and Assessment. In 2010, I became an independent consultant and worked with schools on making changes, particularly engaging with Japanese Lesson Study. For four years I was the Programme Director for the King’s College London MaST course.
I have seen it as important to make a professional contribution to education. This has involved being Secretary of the Mathematical Association, a member of the Royal Society Mathematics Education Committee and Chair of the coordinating committee for Primary Mathematics Year 1988. I have also been chair of governors of a primary school.
I have two main research interests: the role that Lesson Study plays in the profession development of teachers; and, a member of the research team at the UCL Institute of Education looking at The Nature, Prevalence and Effectiveness of Strategies used to Prepare Pupils for Key Stage 2 Mathematics Tests, a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Suki Honey
I have been an associate lecturer with the OU since 2003. As well as being an AL for the OU, I also work for Plymouth University. I was a mathematics lecturer on the BEd and PGCE primary ITE programmes for 10 years, and am now a researcher in pedagogy.
Prior to working with Plymouth University and the OU, I taught mathematics at various secondary schools in Plymouth, Cardiff and Tring. As much as I love working with adults in HE, I really miss the younger students. They have such a wonderful outlook on life and mathematics that it keeps me on my toes. They also make excellent participants in my research, and I have worked with some amazing girls and young women on their experiences of being maths learners.
When I’m not working (that fleeting moment just after I finish marking ECAs), I can usually be found sitting cross-legged doing some mathematical origami or deeply engrossed with my nose in a book, cup of tea and some custard creams always close by.
Pete Kelly
I taught for fifteen years, first in London and then in South West England, before moving into higher education, and am now a researcher and tutor in comparative education and mathematics education. Long ago, I studied with the Open University, and so understand the benefits of online learning and some of the challenges our students face.
Angie McConnell
I’m Angie McConnell and I am currently a tutor on ME620 and ME322. I have been an OU tutor since 2005.
However, my connection with the OU stretches back a very long way – my first degree was from Liverpool University then in 1978 I started an OU degree and followed that with an MSc with the OU – all in Mathematics so I do understand what it is like to be an OU student. I taught for 10 years in a Secondary school then for 30 years in an FE college teaching a wide range of students but always Mathematics. The classes I loved were adult students, many of whom had a genuine fear of mathematics, and I am proud to say I converted many a ‘I hate maths’ student to an ‘it’s all right this maths stuff isn’t it?’ student.
In my spare time I love to travel and explore new places and countries and there’s usually an opportunity to do some maths. Sitting next to a young girl on a train in a remote part of Thailand I realised that she was struggling with her maths homework on quadratic equation. I offered to help and between us we sorted it. She spoke very little English and I speak even less Thai, but mathematics is a universal language.
I have two cats who are very helpful when it comes to marking TMAs and EMAs and love to walk across the keyboard as I am typing so if your feedback is returned with strange typos, blame the cats.
Rebecca Rosenberg
Hello. I have been working at the Open University since 2019, mainly on the development of the new Maths Education modules. 2022 is the first year I will be tutoring on one of these modules, and I’m really looking forward to putting all that hard work into practice!
Before joining the Open University, I worked as a maths education publisher, and before that I worked as a secondary maths teacher in Suffolk. I’m particularly interested in the way people talk about maths – both inside and outside the classroom; how do we form questions in maths lessons? How is maths discussed in popular culture and media?
In my spare time I knit, sew, cook, garden and binge-watch American high-school tv shows.
Jim Thorpe
I became a mathematics teacher through the accident of joining Bill Brookes’ PGCE course: suddenly I realised that much mathematical thinking could emerge from humble beginnings, numerical or geometrical, and realised that mathematics could make a major contribution to the intellectual and social development of adolescents if they were encouraged to function as young mathematicians within what John Mason calls a ‘conjecturing atmosphere.’
I have been committed to mathematics education for a long time, in the secondary classroom and then in a variety of ways supporting the work of mathematics teachers. My current occupation is mainly tutoring in mathematics and education, mathematics, and engineering for the Open University.
I am alarmed by much of what I see under the heading of teaching mathematics but remain unrepentant in proposing something richer than the all-too-frequent ‘training’ metaphor of communicating mathematics.