Read all the latest news from Yorkshire and the Humber Maths Hub below:
Here's an overview of all of our National Collaborative Projects for 2024-25 in one handy place:
You can also download our catalogue detailing our free, high quality PD programmes.
When we think about 'teaching for mastery' what questions and thoughts spring to mind? Here we look at some common misconceptions around what mastery is and what it is not.
Funded by the DfE and delivered by the NCETM, Maths Hubs were set up to provide research-informed, evidence-based professional development designed to support teachers and schools to get the best out of whichever teaching for mastery scheme they use, whether that scheme is an ‘off-the-shelf’ commercial mastery scheme or one that the school has developed itself.
Maths Hubs CPD enhances teacher subject knowledge and pedagogy, and hubs support teachers, from Reception to post-16, whatever scheme they use. All of the CPD delivered by Maths Hubs, and the materials produced by the NCETM to support their work, are underpinned by teaching for mastery approaches.
In a nutshell, whatever scheme or curriculum your school follows, your local Maths Hub can help you get the most out of it. And it’s free!
Take a look at The Essence of Mathematics Teaching for Mastery and you’ll see that it is primarily an approach to curriculum design, pedagogy and subject knowledge. The greatest investment is time, to engage with the professional development needed to become really proficient at using teaching for mastery approaches. Because Maths Hubs are funded by the DfE, they are able to offer that CPD at no cost to schools.
As the NCETM explains in The Five Big Ideas in Teaching for Mastery, a key element of the approach is the use of representation and structure, to aid a deep, secure understanding of concepts. However, these structures are often visual rather than physical; for example, a number line, hundred square, part-part-whole model or bar model. The use of manipulatives can be very effective in the classroom, but not having them is absolutely no barrier to adopting a teaching for mastery approach.
Sure, teaching for mastery is currently more widespread in primary schools across England, but more and more secondary schools are now realising the benefits mastery can have for them too. With the majority of primary schools now taking a teaching for mastery approach to maths, many secondary schools understand the benefits of keeping maths learning consistent to ensure a smooth transition to KS3. In 2022/23, 1,959 secondary schools actively engaged in mastery-related Work Groups and programmes with their local Maths Hub, and more will join this year and beyond.
The essential features of teaching for mastery in maths – to develop understanding, keeping the class together working on the same content, and believing that every child can succeed – can be applied in either mixed prior attainment or streamed classes. There are materials and guidance on the NCETM website for secondary teachers looking to embed teaching for mastery. All the resources are created by secondary specialists and always backed by research. Their most popular materials are the KS3 Checkpoints – why not download them to try with your Year 7 and 8 classes?
Listen to two London-based secondary headteachers explain why they believe in teaching for mastery, and read how mastery can bring ‘priceless’ benefits to secondary schools.
Exploring concepts in depth and with rigour can take time, especially when you may be worrying about covering the curriculum by specific dates, or that your rapid graspers are complaining that the maths is ‘easy’. But as NCETM Director for Primary, Debbie Morgan, explains in her Q&A on Variation, taking time to go really deeply into concepts benefits all pupils and ensures no gaps appear later. It’s all too easy for those rapid graspers to scrape a surface-level understanding of a concept which is quickly forgotten. Mastery lessons ensure all children develop a deep, lasting understanding that enables them to make connections and see patterns later down the line.
Read A Tale of Two Schools to find out how two schools, with very different cohorts of children, have benefitted from a teaching for mastery approach to maths.
Debbie Morgan is clear about there being no need to differentiate in primary school maths lessons, in terms of planning different activities for groups of pupils. Using the mastery approach means providing the same diet of maths education for all children; teaching the whole class together and having the Five Big Ideas in place to ensure learning is accessible to everyone. Yes, a more subtle form of differentiation is happening – planning for different levels of questioning and follow-up tasks – but the key to mastery is ensuring that all children understand the concept being taught. Listen to the podcast episode to find out more.
The term ‘mastery’ describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of succeeding in maths. Achieving mastery is not a destination – mastery is a journey which schools embark on, often with support from their local Maths Hub, to continually develop maths teaching and learning across all year groups.
Maths Hubs support all state-funded schools in England, so whether your school hasn’t yet begun their mastery journey, or if it’s something that has fallen by the wayside, there are options available to you.
You can find out more and get involved with Yorkshire and Humber Maths Hub programmes by clicking here
"When Will We Ever Use This in Real Life?"
New Funding for Core Maths - Why this is So Important and How You Can Take Advantage of It.
For some classroom teachers, the phrase 'when will we ever use this in real life?' uttered from students can be quite deflating. For others, it's an opportunity to relate maths to the wider world. With new funding for the Core Maths Programme, this could provide us all with a helpful solution.
With some maths teachers teaching only in 11-16 institutions, it is perhaps understandable that some know very little about it.
Core Maths is specifically designed to meet the needs of these students. It builds from GCSE Maths, teaching students to apply maths to real-world contexts they will meet in other areas of study, work and life – from interpreting data and statistical information on topical issues such as climate change and inflation, to understanding mathematical models and making sense of personal finance. All young people need these skills.
This is an example of a question that students might tackle in Core Maths:
Core Maths is a Level 3 qualification, like AS/A levels. It's the same size as an AS level, and carries the same number of UCAS points. It’s designed to be taken alongside three A levels or a Level 3 technical programme.
Students and teachers of Core Maths value the qualification highly, but currently only around a third of schools and colleges offering post-16 programmes teach Core Maths, and just over 12,000 students took it last year. Currently, the majority of young people in England who achieve a grade 4 or above in GCSE Maths stop studying the subject at age 16. This is more than 200,000 young people each year. In other developed countries, a far higher proportion of young people study maths post-16. Our young people are missing out.
This new funding is a major step towards the aspiration that, within 10 years, all young people will study maths to age 18, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to become informed citizens, ready to play a full part in society. This is something that Charlie Stripp, Director of the NCETM feels passionate about. To discover more from his blog, click here:
if you are interested in knowing more about the support that the Yorkshire and the Humber Maths Hub can offer, please email yhmathshub@outwood.com.
In this NCETM podcast episode, Professor Alf Coles and Professor Nathalie Sinclair talk about their book, I Can’t Do Maths! Why children say it and how to make a difference.
In the book, Alf and Nathalie identify, unpick and challenge some of the most commonly-held beliefs about maths teaching and learning. In Part 1 (of 3) of the conversation, they explore the background to the book and the first two dogmas, or myths, about maths education.
Professor Alf Coles, University of Bristol
Professor Nathalie Sinclair, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
Julia Thomson, Communications Manager, NCETM.
00:05 - Introduction to part 1
01:02 - Meet Professors Alf Coles and Nathalie Sinclair
02:06 - Unpacking the concept of ‘dogmas’ in maths education
05:52 - Exploring the first dogma: maths is a building-block subject
11:51 - Challenging the second dogma: maths is always right or wrong
16:58 - Conclusion and preview of Part 2.
I Can’t Do Maths! Why children say it and how to make a difference by Professor Alf Coles and Professor Nathalie Sinclair (Bloomsbury, 2022)
Journeys on the Gattegno Tens Chart by Alf Coles, 2014
Explore previous episodes of the NCETM podcast in our archive.
In this discussion shared by the NCETM, Dr Ems Lord and Liz Woodham from NRICH and Grace Coker from the EEF explore the many benefits of using maths games in both primary and secondary classrooms.
Episode chapters
00:06 - Introduction
00:27 - Understanding the role of maths games in education
00:40 - Context and background: NRICH and the EEF
02:56 - The importance of maths games in the classroom
04:55 - Advice from NRICH on effective use of maths games
08:14 - Common misconceptions about using games in the classroom
11:33 - The evidence and research on the use of maths games
15:06 - The concept of embodied learning in maths education
17:00 - Using games to facilitate and develop mathematical talk
18:58 - Conclusion and teaser for Part 2.
Useful links
EEF Improving Mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1
EEF Blog: Let’s Get Physical!
NRICH Secondary parental engagement project: Solving Together
NRICH Primary games
NRICH Secondary games
NCETM Checkpoints
Maths Hubs has published a new report summarising the work of Maths Hubs during the academic year 2022/23:
The report covers activity in all school phases from Early Years to Post-16, and hears from participants in a range of professional development programmes. It also includes a section dedicated to those who lead the Maths Hubs' work, known as local leaders of mathematics education (LLME), and a wide variety of statistics showing the scale of the work during one year.
It is jam-packed with statistics, powerful impact stories and case studies celebrating the work of England’s Maths Hubs.
If you feel inspired to join us this year, or next, you can find out details of our programmes by clicking the button below:
Victoria Moore, primary maths lead and Year 5 teacher, Usworth Colliery Primary School, teaches in an area of high social and economic deprivation. In this podcast she explains how a mastery approach to teaching precise mathematical vocabulary is giving pupils in her school a voice.
Victoria shares her experience with the NCETM here:
Episode chapters
00:06 – Introductions and school context
02:10 – How the school’s approach to teaching maths vocabulary has changed
03:40 – The purpose of using ambitious, higher-level maths vocabulary
05:32 – The approach to vocabulary across the school
07:00 – How staff have adapted to using higher-level maths vocabulary
09:59 – The impact on pupils
13:12 – Benefits of teaching maths vocabulary for higher attainers
16:00 – Explicit teaching of mathematical vocabulary
Useful links
There are many benefits of getting involved in the work of your local Maths Hub as a participating school, but there can also be an impact of having some of your staff become Local Leaders of Maths Education (LLME).
In this podcast for the NCETM, Sarah Smith, Executive Headteacher at St Cuthbert's Catholic Academy and Christ the King Catholic Academy in Blackpool and Gabriella May, Primary Mastery Specialist, LLME, head of maths, and teacher at St Cuthbert's Catholic Academy in Blackpool share their experience.
Episode chapters
00.07 – Introduction
02.40 – The school's mastery journey and the benefit to pupils
06.38 – Hosting Mastering Number showcase sessions
09.02 – The impact on your school when a teacher becomes an LLME
12.12 – What an LLME does and how you can balance the commitment with your classroom teaching role
17.16 – The benefit to your school in having an LLME
20.00 – Advice for schools and teachers
Useful links:
To read more testimonials from colleagues who have worked with us here at Yorkshire and Humber Maths Hub, click the button below:
