Shanghai style maths lessons to be rolled out to 8,000 schools

A £41m boost will help more than 8,000 schools - half of the total number in England - receive support to adopt the approach, which is used by leading maths performers including Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong.

International tests show that in these jurisdictions the percentage of 15 year olds who are described as functionally innumerate - unable to perform basic calculations - was more than 10 percentage points lower than in England. The south Asian “maths mastery” approach is already used in a number of England’s schools following a teacher exchange programme between England and Shanghai.

The funding will ensure it is used more widely, with an initial 700 teachers to be trained to support schools in maths mastery.

Initially used in England in 2014, maths mastery involves children being taught as a whole class, building “depth of understanding of the structure of maths” supported by the use of textbooks.

Schools minister Nick Gibb, who visited Shanghai, in March, to see maths teaching in practice, announced the expansion yesterday at the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education conference.

He said: “We are seeing a renaissance in maths teaching in this country, with good ideas from around the world helping to enliven our classrooms.

“The significant expansion of the south Asian maths mastery approach can only add to the positive momentum, with thousands more young people having access to specialist teachers and quality textbooks.

“I am confident that the steps are taking now will ensure young people are properly prepared for further study and the 21st-century workplace, and that the too often heard phrase ‘can’t do maths’ is consigned to the past.”

So far 140 teachers from primary schools in England have been trained by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to help schools adopt the mastery approach.

The investment of up to £41m, to be spread over the next four years, will allow hundreds more to be trained. The expansion will be led by maths hubs - 35 school-led centres of excellence in maths teaching. Mr Gibb also discussed the initial findings of an evaluation of a Shanghai teacher exchange scheme, by Sheffield Hallam University, published yesterday. It found that the scheme “has the potential to meet its core aim of fostering a radical shift in maths teaching in primary schools and to impact on pupil attainment”.

It said that work would be needed to involve more stakeholders to ensure its ongoing success.

The evaluation highlighted differences in approaches between Shanghai and England. It said that schools in Shanghai have more regular but shorter maths lessons and also more regular homework.

Earlier this year The Yorkshire Post reported that a group of South Yorkshire schools will be working in partnership with a charity to glean expertise in teaching maths with inspiration from the Far East.

The Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance, which is led by St Thomas of Canterbury Primary, in Sheffield, is working with London-based Mathematics Mastery. Their approach draws on evidence from high-performing areas such as Singapore and Shanghai.

The government has also announced the launch of a tender for the national maths education centre, which is being commissioned to help in the training of specialist maths teachers.