Ofsted's Coordinating mathematical success: the mathematics subject report came out in 2023 and had a lot to say about Teaching for Mastery, whilst carefully avoiding the phrase "Teaching for Mastery".
As well as highlighting recent improvements in mathematics teaching in England, they had some concerns. One of these was a lack of ambition:
An ambitious curriculum is one that maximises the mathematics that pupils learn. In some schools, teachers move on before ensuring pupils have learned important knowledge and committed that knowledge to long term memory. In schools where this is common, leaders focus on what pupils study, rather than on what pupils learn. Moving on when pupils are not mathematically ready gives the illusion of progress but creates ever greater gaps that will take more time to address in the future.
Leaders should focus on what pupils learn, not on what pupils study.
In some schools, teachers teach the curriculum that is put in front of them, then give the children a summative assessment a few times a year to see if they are 'working at age-related expectations'. Not surprisingly, Ofsted also criticise this approach:
Some leaders gain false assurance about the effectiveness of their curriculum design and practice through internal assessments that closely align with ‘expected performance thresholds’ of external assessments. This approach often leads to an acceptance of pupils moving through the mathematics curriculum with significant gaps in their knowledge and leaders failing to make necessary adjustments to their curriculums. In these schools, some pupils would be better served by studying less, but securely learning more.
A more ambitious curriculum would focus on what pupils learn
An ambitious curriculum is one that aims for the most number of pupils to learn the most that they can. Rather than making the expectations more challenging, our ambition should be for more children to securely learn less stuff.
A successful school would focus on their key performance indicators for each year group, and ensure that the children have mastered these before they move on. And if they haven't mastered them, they don't move on. Teachers don't cover the curriculum for their year, they cover the curriculum for the children in front of them.
What does this look like in practice?
Assess for learning
Start by assessing the pre-requisite content. For example, before starting a year 3 unit on multiplication and division, assess that the children are secure in the relevant key objectives from year 2. You can use the DfE Guidance for this - each Ready to Progress Criteria has a set of assessment questions that cover the key learning and put it into context.
If the children are all secure then you can start to plan. If they are not all secure, then start by covering the key ideas again. Don't worry about the children who are secure at this point - they should be encouraged to think more deeply, explain to their peers and ensure that their understanding is deep enough for what is about to come. Don't be afraid to practice pre-requisite skills first.
Teach for the whole class
Think about the journey from this starting point to the key objectives for your year group. What are the big ideas along the way? The NCETM Professional Development materials provide a journey toward each key objective.
Teach it one step at a time. Give time for enough practice after each step. Don't worry that it seems too easy.
Intervene rapidly
If children aren't successful during the lesson, give the necessary additional support as soon as possible. Work with them directly in the lesson if you can to provide additional, temporary scaffolding. Refer back to the models and language used earlier in the lesson. Give small groups of children short bursts of support after the maths lesson or before the next one.
These rapid pre-, post- or in-lesson interventions are in order that children 'keep up, not catch up'. They are distinct from any ongoing 'gap filling' interventions, that are normally focused on filling gaps from previous years that children lack fluency in.
