Social mobility refers to an individual's capacity to move between social classes, typically ascending from a lower to a higher social status. In the United Kingdom, social mobility is reportedly declining, with a significant portion of the population believing that the government isn't doing enough to support those in lower economic brackets. A study by the Social Mobility Commission revealed stark regional disparities in perceived life prospects, with only about 33% of residents in the north-east of England feeling optimistic about their chances for success, compared to 74% in the south-east. This disparity underscores the urgent need for improvement, with education playing a pivotal role. Research suggests that a child's educational achievements and future earnings are strongly influenced by their parent's level of education, highlighting a cycle of limited social mobility based on familial background.
In response to these challenges, the UK government unveiled a social mobility action plan in 2017 aimed at ensuring that "no community is left behind." This plan emphasizes targeting resources to areas most in need and outlines four key ambitions:
- Closing the early years' word gap to prevent children from falling behind in language skills.
- Providing high-quality post-16 education options for all young people.
- Helping everyone to reach their full potential in rewarding careers.
- Closing the school attainment gap while raising standards across the board.
The focus is mainly on early language development, aiming to ensure that more disadvantaged children achieve basic literacy skills that are often taken for granted. My focus will be on the final ambition: narrowing the school attainment gap while simultaneously elevating educational standards for all students.
While progress has been made in narrowing the educational attainment gap, disadvantaged children still lag behind their more privileged counterparts. One potential solution is to start addressing this issue from the early years of education. Achievement for All suggests greater emphasis should be placed on developing fundamental math skills in children and young people, noting the common employer requirement of at least a Grade C in GCSE mathematics. While literacy is often seen as the key to social mobility, enhancing math education could contribute significantly to creating a more socially mobile society. In our current technology-driven age, which is only set to expand, improving basic numeracy skills is essential, as individuals with advanced math skills are more likely to achieve higher earnings and maintain employment throughout their careers. This essay will explore how educators can adapt their teaching strategies to bridge the attainment gap in mathematics, mainly through the teaching-for-mastery approach.
In 2019, the UK's Social Mobility Commission reported that social mobility has been stagnant for the past four years across nearly all stages of life, with educational opportunity disparities being a primary factor. Entry into professional careers is heavily influenced by parental occupation, with children from professional backgrounds being 80% more likely to enter professions like law or medicine, attributed to their stronger educational backgrounds. This leaves many young individuals unprepared for their future careers. Elizabeth Truss, MP, highlighted a specific issue with social mobility in math and science, which is less prevalent in the arts. Research by the Fair Education Alliance found disparities in the quality of education across England, with some primary schools outperforming others due to their high-quality math education that does not discriminate based on students' social or economic backgrounds. These schools adopt a whole-school approach to math, focusing on pre-lesson teacher time for concept clarification and ensuring all students, including those at risk of underachievement, have access to enriching math experiences. Elizabeth Truss MP argues that a solid foundation in math is crucial for those pursuing STEM fields and for the next generation of teachers, journalists, and politicians, underscoring the importance of basic math proficiency for all.
In February 2020, ranking the world's 82 most socially mobile countries highlighted the Nordic nations—Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden—at the top, attributed to their exceptional education systems, robust social safety nets, inclusive institutions, and ample employment opportunities. The success of the Nordic educational model is partly due to its embrace of international political radicalism, emphasizing student emancipation and local influence on school development alongside professional development for teachers. This approach has cultivated a populace capable of reaching its full potential, contrasting with the UK's challenges, including a shortage of quality teachers due to high workloads and intense accountability pressures.
Teaching for mastery is proposed as a solution to alleviate the strain on UK teachers, supported by evidence showing a stark difference in teaching approaches between England and Singapore, where significantly fewer teachers need to differentiate math lessons for varying student abilities. This method focuses on ensuring the whole class comprehends the concepts.
The UK's struggle with social mobility is exacerbated by a shortage of math teachers and a pronounced disparity in math achievement levels, placing it 28th in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. Elizabeth Truss MP has advocated for increased funding for math and English to address these issues. The teaching for mastery approach, inspired by the educational success of Singapore and Shanghai, was adopted as a central policy in England's math education in 2015. This approach is characterized by high expectations for all students, immediate addressing of learning gaps, access to comprehensive mathematical content for all pupils, avoidance of student grouping and labeling, integration of conceptual and procedural math, and significant investment in teacher professional development.
The mastery approach has been implemented in 530 UK schools, benefiting 5,800 teachers and 176,000 students. The program aims to enhance resilience, enjoyment, and achievement in math, with the long-term goal of boosting numerical skills and social mobility across the UK.
At my current placement school, the teaching for mastery program is employed to bridge the achievement gap between students of varying abilities across different key stages in mathematics. Teachers adopt a comprehensive strategy in lesson planning to cater to the diverse needs of their students. A critical approach is through variation, including both conceptual and procedural variations. Conceptual variation uses different visuals and representations for the same concept, while procedural variation changes one problem element to highlight a mathematical structure or relationship. This method encourages creative thinking rather than repetitive practice, as Gu (1991) noted.
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For instance, in a lesson on fractions and decimals with my year four class—a concept typically challenging for students—the teaching for mastery approach enabled students to grasp that three-tenths are the same as thirty hundredths. They further learned to decompose this fraction into two parts, understanding the equivalence of thirty hundredths to three-tenths and zero hundredths. This concept was also illustrated using a bar model, a technique proven effective in Singapore and other high-performing countries for its clarity in revealing the mathematical structure of problems (NCETM, 2015). After the lesson, feedback indicated that nearly half of the students found visual representations, particularly bar models, to be the most helpful. This underscores the value of using varied representations to make mathematical concepts accessible to all students.
In addition to teaching, I assisted with collecting and analyzing data from year four assessments to track students' progress. The analysis revealed that 35% of the students showed improvement from previous assessments, 60% maintained their performance levels, and only 5% saw a decline. These outcomes suggest a positive correlation between enhanced math teaching strategies and student performance. By avoiding grouping or labeling students, we ensured that all had access to comprehensive mathematical content, which contributed to improved assessment results. Furthermore, the data helped identify areas where students struggled, allowing immediate intervention through targeted lesson planning or math meetings. Integrating conceptual and procedural math and promptly addressing misconceptions is narrowing the attainment gap, setting the stage for a future with greater social mobility.
In my teaching experiences across two distinct age groups, I've observed the application of teaching for mastery programs and their effectiveness in both settings. During my initial placement in a year one classroom, my mentor conducted daily fifteen to twenty-minute math meetings that covered a range of foundational math skills, including reciting the days of the week, telling time, counting money, and performing mental math exercises like calculating number bonds to ten. These sessions were designed with ample examples and support for problem-solving. Teaching assistants and trainee teachers were strategically placed to support students who needed it during these lessons. Traditionally, UK classrooms have practiced ability grouping, which has been found to limit lower-ability groups' exposure to essential mathematical concepts compared to their higher-ability peers. The teaching for mastery approach, emphasizing avoiding grouping and labeling, ensures all students develop a foundational understanding by promptly addressing learning gaps.
Both schools where I've completed placements have embraced the teaching for mastery strategy in mathematics, and I've noted its particularly beneficial impact on students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and those who were struggling with math. Mastery's incremental teaching method suits SEND students well, often eliminating the need for lesson differentiation due to its whole-class teaching model. My direct involvement allowed me to address misconceptions on the spot. Employing the concrete-pictorial-abstract strategy recommended by the mastery approach enabled students who previously doubted their math abilities to engage with the material in both year groups successfully.
By applying conceptual variation, I introduced number bonds to ten in various formats to my year one students. I used place value charts and hundred squares to explain fractions and decimals to my year four students. It's important to highlight that in countries where mastery approaches are widespread, disadvantaged students perform on par with their peers, underscoring the potential of this approach to enhance social mobility in the UK.
During my latest teaching placement, I observed that students who were either more confident or had higher abilities in math were encouraged to bypass the initial task and commence with the second. A staff meeting later clarified that this practice deviates from the core principles of the teaching for mastery approach, which emphasizes that for mastery to be effectively implemented, all students should engage with every question from the start to reinforce and solidify their understanding of the concept. This raises a critical question: Are we inadvertently compromising the latter's education in our efforts to bridge the gap between lower-achieving and higher-achieving students? This dilemma is reminiscent of the 'tall poppy syndrome,' a concept discussed by Gallagher (2015), where the growth of higher achievers is potentially stifled to elevate the performance of their peers. The Department for Education (DfE) suggests that most students should progress through the curriculum at a similar pace. Yet, Gallagher advocates for recognizing and nurturing each student's individuality, providing equal opportunities for all to excel, thus challenging the mastery approach's uniformity.
In summary, the teaching for mastery program holds significant promise for enhancing math education in the UK. My experiences across various age groups and abilities have demonstrated mastery principles' positive impact on student mathematics learning. The Fair Education Alliance highlights the ongoing challenge of breaking the cycle of underachievement in math among many students, emphasizing the need for continued efforts in early education and across schools to support disadvantaged students. The National Association of Mathematics Advisors (NAMA) (2015) suggests that the mastery approach is efficient for all students, offering substantial benefits for those falling behind.
Reflecting on the broader implications, it's clear that to narrow the math attainment gap, we must begin in the early years of education. Gallagher (2015) reminds us that a child's potential is not fixed by their demographic characteristics but is shaped by their experiences. Therefore, enriching a child's learning environment with diverse experiences can accelerate their development. Implementing the teaching for mastery approach and employing strategies like variation not only cultivates more confident and capable mathematicians but also has the potential to significantly enhance social mobility for future generations by reducing educational disparities.
