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Are the Proposed Reforms of Numeracy Teaching Sufficient for Success?

1998; Oxford University Press; Volume: 17; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/teamat/17.4.145

1471-6976

S. J. Prais, R. E. Luxton,

Mathematics Education and Programs

This article comments on current official proposals for the improvement of the teaching of numeracy in English primary schools; it raises four main concerns, based on the authors' experience of reforming mathematics teaching in a group of primary schools in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. (a) More investment needs to be made in developing detailed teaching materials than envisaged in current official proposals, (b) Current official proposals are based on dividing each class into subgroups by pupils' abilities; Continental experience shows that higher average standards are to be attained by whole-class teaching, and that this approach particularly helps weaker (slow developing) pupils, (c) Training in whole-class teaching methods needs to be carried out in a more thorough-going way than officially envisaged, (d) The National Curriculum in mathematics needs to be narrowed, and taken at a much slower pace, if the foundations of mathematics are to be consolidated by a much greater proportion of the class.