Secondary Schools set to increase amount of maths teaching time

According to a recent survey, more than a quarter of schools are planning to increase the amount of time spent teaching maths next year. This will be in time for the new Maths GCSE set to come in next September. Half of schools have said they will introduce new training programmes for staff and a third of schools are going to recruit more maths teachers.

The survey finds that 28 per cent of secondary schools plan to increase teaching time for maths by up to one hour at key stage 4, while 27 per cent aim to do so at key stage 3. Half of secondary leaders say they will introduce a programme of professional development for maths teachers and 36 per cent say they will recruit additional staff.

The findings were carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research for the department of education, who surveyed school leaders and teachers.

Reforms to the maths Curriculum aim to make it more challenging, with a greater emphasis on problem-solving. The syllabus has been expanded by a third, with new topics including ratio and proportion. Students will be required to tackle financial mathematics and learn mathematical formulas by heart.

School reform minister Nick Gibb said he welcomed the news that teachers were responding to the new course by increasing the amount of time spent on maths. “Our plan for education is ensuring more pupils will benefit from an increased focus on maths and other key academic subjects,” he added.

The survey finds that half of schools are planning to retain existing systems for assessing students’ progress in the new national curriculum, introduced this September, while 23 per cent say they are going to use a new system developed by their school or group of schools. A further 19 per cent are undecided.