What is the Maths Mastery Curriculum?

Following the methods adopted in schools in cities such as Shanghai and Singapore, who are well-known for their high standards in teaching and learning of mathematics, the Department for Education (DfE), National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and OFSTED encouraged schools to teach ‘maths mastery’ in order to raise standards in the UK.

AIMS

The aims of the Mastery Curriculum are for pupils to develop fluency, the ability to reason mathematically, to solve problems and apply this to other real-life situations.  In order to do this, children need to acquire a long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of maths.

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?

The maths mastery curriculum is an improvement to the previous linear style where pupils would move on quickly from one concept to the next.  Whilst this may have resulted in children who were 'fluent' in maths and could calculate quickly, they would find problem solving difficult and if an answer was wrong they may not have understood why.

GROWTH MINDSET

A greater emphasis is now placed on pupils explaining how they solved a problem and giving reasons to support this.  Children are encouraged to develop a ‘Growth Mindset’ as they learn from the mistakes they make and, rather than feeling defeated in not understanding something and getting it wrong, pupils have the opportunity to explore the errors or misunderstandings and have another go.  This results in a more positive attitude towards their learning, the ability to rise to challenges and ultimately a more secure understanding.

LEARNING TOGETHER

The Maths Mastery approach is based on whole-class teaching where all pupils work together to learn mathematical concepts through activities, questioning and discussions. 

Pupils are encouraged to demonstrate and explain their understanding, starting with the basics, to form the foundations needed to ‘master’ it before logically progressing on to the next topic.   After all, it is better to get a secure footing, before rushing on to the next rung of the ladder.

DIFFERENTIATION?

In the mastery curriculum, pupils learn at the same pace and move on together.    This gives those who may be struggling more time to develop their understanding. At the same time, other children who have grasped things more quickly, have the opportunity to study the same content in greater depth, solving more complex and challenging tasks and applying what they have learnt to different situations.  Teachers therefore can plan lessons and activities that all children in the class will access, rather than planning different activities for different children.

DfE's READY TO PROGRESS CRITERIA

In June 2020, the DfE and NCETM published non-statutory mathematics guidance for KS1 and KS2 to bring a more coherent linked framework to be used alongside the national curriculum.   The guidance does not focus on the whole of the primary curriculum, but only the key areas that have been identified as a priortity.  The NCETM consider that if all criteria are taught and met, a child understands these, they will be able to access many other elements of the curriculum more easily. 

They identified these as Ready-to-Progress criteria and can be seen as goals children need to be able to reach at the end of each year in order to make good progress in maths in years 1 to 6.