This is really good on how the primary maths curriculum could do less, but better. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
‘Phonics’ for maths and more pleasure in the subject should be the aim of the primary maths curriculum, and this is how we achieve it, argue Peter Foulds and David Thomas
In secondary 2/3 of their GCSE is with a calculator. Their mental maths doesn't slow them down here. Maybe there is a place for calculators at primary to engage children into the processes of maths regardless of the numbers and supporting then to understand the rules of number.
Agreed.
A good article. Food for thought. Slavishly following other countries maths teaching models contributed to this. We need to find our own path. This looks like a good start. I see 13yo pupils still using fingers instead of knowing basic number bonds. And don’t get me started on multiplication!
I remember Andrew Jeffrey saying a lot of this decades ago. He said children probably learn most of the maths in Y1 and then the values increase and difficulty of challenge but the actual 'maths' had been learnt.
Totally agree.
Completely agree. I also wonder if a graded assessment system would be useful for maths, like you have with musical instruments. Much harder to implement though.
Much more of a focus on mental maths and the language of maths would imho be good - and teaching and learning maths - not being slaves to THE method - if I get asked if this is a bar problem too many times more… And what is this pleasure thing? Enjoyment ??? Bonkers thought 😜