QCA has produced a report: 'Offering further mathematics as part of the A level curriculum', which includes the following six case studies:

Example 1: School offering further mathematics in the second year of a double mathematics course

Example 2: School offering further mathematics alongside A level mathematics

Example 3: Further education college offering further mathematics as a fully timetabled A level option

This college uses the OCR (MEI) specifications and runs AS further mathematics and A2 further mathematics as standard options on the A level timetable. It allocates the courses the same amount of time as AS and A2 mathematics. Students can choose to take the AS further mathematics in their first or second year of study provided it does not clash with their other options.

This is the third year that the college has run the further mathematics courses this way. In previous years further mathematics was offered on an ad hoc basis to students who showed an interest and was delivered in a workshop style during lunchtime or at the end of the day. The college has also experimented with offering further mathematics as part of an intensive mathematics class similar to the model used in Example 1 above. This option was abandoned after the first cohort as, for this college, it led to a high drop-out rate and also excluded those students whose mathematical maturity was not at a level where they could even attempt the full A level in year 1.

The college adopted their current model when the specifications for further mathematics were changed so that studying the AS did not require candidates to have completed A level mathematics first. The head of department states that although they would prefer candidates to have at least an A grade in their GCSE mathematics they do not exclude anyone who is studying A level mathematics from joining the class if they wish. Last year the further mathematics AS class had 15 students with A or A* at GCSE, two students with grade B and one student with a grade C.

The college is keen to encourage students with interest and motivation to study as much mathematics as they can:
“At the end of the day if they are keen and willing to do it, it seems silly not to give them a chance. We’re not expecting them to get a grade A but we do expect them to pass.”
Head of mathematics, general further education college

Example 4: Shared provision with other local institutions

Example 5: Shared provision with a local further mathematics centre

Example 6: Tuition entirely through a local further mathematics centre