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One-third of the current A-level mathematics curriculum is determined by choice, constructed out of 'applied mathematics' modules in mechanics, statistics and decision mathematics. Although this choice arguably involves the most sizeable instance of choice in the current English school mathematics curriculum, and it has a significant impact on students' post-compulsory study of mathematics, it is not well understood how this choice is navigated. This article explores how mathematics teachers perceive each of these three areas of applied mathematics, how widely each of the modules is offered and in what ways perception might be connected to provision. Data from an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews demonstrate that teachers are influenced by a wide range of factors, including strategic concerns and views on the relative worth of each strand. The results also highlight the presence of inertia in centres' provision. In this way, this article offers some insight into current perception and provision of applied mathematics in England, and speaks to contemporary debates about curriculum content and reform. It argues that students' exposure to the powerful utility of mathematics is often unhelpfully steered or limited at a critical point in their education.

Teaching using the principles of mathematical resilience can lead to a broad range of implementations with different emphases, all intended to mitigate the development of mathematical anxiety in learners and its attendant problems. This article considers 12 primary teachers' responses to the challenge of developing mathematical resilience within their practice. In pairs, these teachers conducted a small-scale study in their classrooms on a chosen aspect of mathematical resilience, supported by termly meetings. The reports made by the participant teachers form the main part of the data. The teachers were inspired to change how they worked with their learners and reported many positive outcomes. The agency which some teachers exercised influenced not only their outworking of the ideas, but also the fidelity with which they adopted the principles underpinning mathematical resilience. The connections and tensions shown here between agency and fidelity have wider implications for successful implementation of similar change efforts.

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