England V Wales: Who teaches Maths better?
Times are changing in Wales, there is a new Curriculum focus and in Maths there are 5 proficiencies that the government want to see. Here's my take as a new HOD crossing the border from England.
The Welsh government have overhauled the curriculum and not just in Maths. They have identified key statements of what matters and laid out principles for progressing in each subject.
Maths in every country is the same though surely....
Well yes... we still focus on Number, Algebra, Geometry and Statistics.
But also no....in Wales it is mandatory to use their 5 proficiencies to progress students in Maths. This isn't an explicit thing in England.
The 5 proficiencies are: conceptual understanding, fluency, logical thinking, strategic competence and communication with symbols
Lots of big words. But if you dive deeper into the detail that the Welsh government provides on each of them it is no different to what the NCETM in England recommend with their 5 big ideas.
It is obviously a mindset shift for some teachers who may have been teaching purely procedures. To me, call it what you want, 5 big ideas, 5 proficiencies. It is just good maths teaching.
I'll admit I don't like the wording the Welsh government use. I'm a simple man so simple words work better for me! But I do think Wales emphasises algebraic understanding slightly more with the idea of communicating with symbols, justifications and proof.
I don't like, and have never liked the idea of any of these lists as being a tick box or things to explicitly plan for. Like everything else in Maths, it is all interconnected. You need to understand concepts to support with logical thinking. Students need to be fluent as well as being able to communicate effectively.
In summary, I like that both in England and Wales we are explicitly naming what good Maths teaching should look like. Just look at the work of Doug Lemov. Putting a name to something allows you to focus on it and directly improve it. It gives departments areas to focus on, but let's not isolate ideas/proficiencies or make it a tick box exercise, they are all interconnected and needed for students to progress in Maths.