Do you think mastery is the best way to teach Primary Maths?

With the announcement of £41 million of new funding set aside to support 8,000 Primary schools (around half of the total) to fully adopt this approach, we want to know what you think about mastery. Is it really the best-suited approach to teaching Maths in English Primary schools?

Which of these options best matches your opinion on mastery? As always, please do leave a comment if you’ve got more to say.

  1. 30% said I like mastery. It allows children to develop a solid understanding of the basics before moving on.
  2. 44% said I’m ambivalent. I can see the merits of mastery, but I don’t think it’s the fix-all solution that it’s made out to be.
  3. 19% said I don’t know enough about mastery to decide either way.
  4. 7% said I don’t like the mastery approach. I don’t think a whole-class approach works. It holds back the more able pupils.

Comments

Nicky Mathers said on 20 September 2016

I think it can be a backward step. Whatever happend to different learning styles and children enjoying being at school?

Sara Friend said on 23 July 2016

I think 'mastery' is a good idea in terms of needing fluency and reasoning, but not if it is a prescribed method, such as Shanghai method or Singapore method exclusively.

Anonymous said on 15 July 2016

I have enjoyed mastery for the more able But my send aren't at the right year group to master.. They are one or two years below .

Anonymous said on 15 July 2016

I have been using a 'mastery approach' since January and I do strongly feel that it does help children have a much more secure understanding of key concepts. I don't believe that text book mastery is appropriate however as they are too dry and do not offer enough challenge for higher attainers, but using the White Rose Mastery Programme of Study and dipping into the text books has really helped.

Anonymous said on 15 July 2016

It will switch off children if too repetitive for more able children and lower ability children will not gain the full understanding by building up skills by consolidation and practical / visual methods.