AUT26-36 Challenge for All in Mathematics (2-Part Webinar Series)

Dates:   Thursday 12th & 26th November 2026
Time:     7.00pm - 8.00pm
Venue:   Online via Zoom

Target Audience: Primary School Teachers, Juniors – 6th Class

Challenge for All in Mathematics explores what it really means to provide appropriate challenge in mathematics without leaving students behind. Across two connected sessions, we will examine how depth in mathematics is developed through carefully chosen representations, examples, questions and tasks, rather than simply by giving students harder work or moving them on too quickly.

Part 1 focuses on challenge and depth, considering how teachers can help students think more deeply about mathematical structures, relationships and generalisations. Part 2 turns to scaffolding for all students, exploring how support can be designed so that it gives students access to demanding mathematical ideas without reducing the intellectual work for them.

Together, the sessions will make the case that challenge and scaffolding are not opposites. Effective mathematics teaching holds both together: maintaining high expectations while providing the clarity, modelling and carefully sequenced support that allows more students to succeed.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the sessions, participants will:

• Understand the difference between superficial challenge and mathematically meaningful depth.
• Recognise how depth can be developed through representations, examples, non-examples, variation, reasoning and carefully structured questioning.
• Explore how scaffolding can support access to challenging mathematics without over-simplifying the concept or removing the need for thinking.
• Consider practical ways to adapt explanations, tasks and questions so that all students engage with important mathematical ideas.
• Reflect on how to balance high expectations with precise support, so that challenge becomes inclusive rather than selective.

Bio of Presenter - Dr Kieran Mackle, Founder of ALTA Education Ltd.

Dr Kieran Mackle is a primary mathematics specialist, author, consultant and founder of ALTA Education Ltd. He is the creator of The Story of Mathematics, a complete early years and primary mathematics curriculum designed to support coherent teaching, secure understanding and embedded professional development. Kieran is the author of Tackling Misconceptions in Primary Mathematics, Thinking Deeply About Primary Mathematics and the brand-new Primary Maths: In Action, and hosts the Thinking Deeply About Primary Education podcast. His work focuses on helping teachers and leaders develop mathematically precise, evidence-informed approaches to curriculum, pedagogy and professional learning.