From Wellington to Shanghai – Maths lessons learned

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

There has been an enormous amount of research and discussion about how best to teach Mathematics; but could it be as simple as time? One of our Mathematics Subject Leads ponders some of the lessons she took from last week's excellent Festival of Education.

The sun shone brightly, as Wellington College opened its beautiful grounds and buildings to teachers and educators last week for the 10^th Festival of Education.   A fog of lattes and freebies, stalls and seminars, sharing and listening, but above all a buzz which belied a hunger to learn from those entrusted to teach. 

Amongst the plethora of sessions running, a jewel in the crown for me was the opportunity to listen to Suisui Yu as she painted a picture of life in a Shanghai maths classroom. Here, there is a focus on careful, even meticulous, shared planning; with nothing left to chance. Teachers use published, well-written resources to support their delivery of the curriculum and focus their energies instead on quality teaching and critically, on giving rapid feedback to students on their learning. Pacey 45-minute maths lessons happen daily and comprise a brief recap of previous learning, careful teaching of the new skill, basic practice followed by variation practice and finally a summary. Homework is set after every lesson and this is collected in, marked and returned to the students the next day.

I was struck, both by how obviously successful this strategy would be, and by how out of kilter the idea of doing this here in the UK was. Surely this almost immediate feedback is invaluable to students’ learning? To know what is right and what is not right almost as soon as you do it ensures that misconceptions are quickly debunked, that correct thinking is endorsed and that students are able to quickly gain confidence and competence in their skills.

Whilst Shanghai recognise the importance of enabling this immediate feedback by giving their teachers an appropriate workload, many maths teachers in UK schools are not so fortunate. But even in a busy world, in fact especially in a busy world, prioritising is everything. I am convinced that making time to give all-important feedback to students as quickly as possible will make a massive difference to their learning of maths. The challenge is to make sure the energy is focused on the right things! Like in Shanghai, a complete and meticulously planned set of immediately available resources provides UK teachers with greater time to devote to these things that make the greatest difference to students’ learning and progression.

Amanda Ayres, June 2019