Maths through Mastery

At Grange Primary School, our teachers and teaching assistants have been trained to use a'Singapore or mastery' approach and are using the Maths No Problem Scheme and support materials to roll out across Year 1 to Year 5, with the aim of teaching maths through a mastery approach throughout school by 2018.

Singapore Maths Overview

Singapore has become a “laboratory of maths teaching” by incorporating established international research into a highly effective teaching approach. With its emphasis on teaching pupils to solve problems, Singapore Maths teaching is now being rolled out by Maths Hubs here in England.  The Department for Education has recently released an amount of funding to support training for this style of teaching and learning in mathematics.  It is also known as the 'mastery' approach.

A New Way Of Thinking And Teaching

Whole Class Moves Through Content At The Same Pace

When teaching maths for mastery, the whole class moves through topics at broadly the same pace. Each topic is studied in depth and the teacher does not move to the next stage until all children demonstrate that they have a secure understanding of mathematical concepts.

Time To Think Deeply About The Maths

Students are given time to think deeply about the maths and really understand concepts at a relational level rather than as a set of rules or procedures. This slower pace leads to greater progress because it ensures that students are secure in their understanding and teachers don’t need to revisit topics once they’ve been covered in depth.

Builds Self-Confidence In Learners

In a traditional primary school maths lesson, children are put in different groups and given different content based on their anticipated ability. This means that from an early age children are classed as those who can and can’t “do maths”. Teaching maths for mastery is different because it offers all pupils access to the full maths curriculum. This inclusive approach, and its emphasis on promoting multiple methods of solving a problem, builds self-confidence and resilience in pupils.

Differentiates Through Depth Rather Than Acceleration

Though the whole class goes through the same content at the same pace, there is still plenty of opportunity for differentiation. Unlike the old model, where advanced learners are accelerated through new content, those pupils who grasp concepts quickly are challenged with rich and sophisticated problems within the topic. Those children who are not sufficiently fluent are provided additional support to consolidate their understanding before moving on.

Basis For The 2014 National Curriculum For Maths

Teaching maths for mastery is a key plank of the Government’s education reforms and is reflected in the 2014 English national curriculum for mathematics. The NCETM, Department for Education and OFSTED have all endorsed this evidence-based approach which is a key part of the work within the Maths Hubs Programme.