Staffroom Catch Up: Sean Doogan, City College Plymouth

We have been catching up with teachers and colleges across the UK to find out how teaching with Eduqas is working for them and their learners. Sean Doogan, Lecturer and Teaching & Learning Coach at City College in Plymouth, shares his experience of delivering GCSE Maths with Eduqas.

Can you tell us a little about your role and department?

Our Maths department has 22 teachers, and we teach approximately 1100 students each year. We have been teaching with Eduqas for two years, since November 2024.

What made you choose Eduqas as your exam board?

We had been using AQA for a number of years for GCSE Maths. Our results were good, but after speaking to a few colleges who had switched to Eduqas, we decided that Eduqas would be a better option for our students.

We felt that the two-paper format instead of three would work better in an FE setting. Also, the fact that Eduqas is a different exam board from the standard Edexcel or AQA many of our students would have encountered before at school meant that we could adopt a ‘fresh start’ approach in GCSE Maths and rebuild student confidence from day one.

How have your learners responded to the Eduqas GCSE Maths specification?

Our students have responded positively to the move to the Eduqas specification. The exam papers are more accessible in terms of the gradual build-up of difficulty of the questions. The slightly lower grade boundaries for Eduqas also mean that a grade 4 pass feels more within reach for our learners.

The exams are obviously slightly longer compared to other exam boards, but we run a number of mocks leading up to the exams so the students get used to the longer format.

The delivery of our curriculum has not altered dramatically, but we do ensure that we use the Eduqas Question Bank in our lessons so our students are familiar with how a topic may be tested in an exam.

What has been the best thing about teaching Maths with Eduqas?

The support and communication from Eduqas, along with the two-paper format and the accessibility of the exam papers for our learners. The support and communication from the Eduqas team, especially Rhys has been very good.

Our staff members have attended a number of CPD sessions organised by Eduqas that have helped us to support our learners and keep up to date with the latest teaching tools and resources.

What Eduqas resources have you found most useful?

The Exam Question Bank has been particularly useful, as it gives students the chance to have targeted practice across a range of topics leading up to the exams.

Have you taken part in Eduqas CPD or Professional Learning sessions?

We have taken part in a number of CPD sessions run by Eduqas. Our teachers have come away from these sessions with valuable information, ranging from understanding assessment and marking criteria, to using bar modelling and ratio tables in lessons to support our students’ learning.

We also had a number of staff attend the ‘Supporting foundation tier students in the mathematics classroom to boost their confidence in examinations’ CPD event in June this year.

What would you say to other centres considering switching to Eduqas?

Switching to Eduqas has definitely worked for us. I would recommend they speak to colleagues in other colleges who have switched, then decide what is best for their learners and teachers.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

For GCSE Maths has switching has been a highly successful move for our college. The transition to a two-paper model rather than three has significantly reduced our administrative burden.

Furthermore, the exceptional CPD support from Rhys, combined with the comprehensive Question Bank resources, has been a major asset to both our staff and students.