'Concern' after DfE approves just one Asian-style maths textbook

Textbooks tailor-made for the Department of Education's (DfE) £41m "Chinese-style" maths programme are not making the grade, the DfE has confirmed, with only one textbook from Tunbridge Wells-based independent Maths – No Problem approved for use. 

One year on after the DfE announced 8,000 primary schools in England would receive £41m over four years to support the South Asian "maths mastery” approach in schools, the DfE has so far only approved a single textbook to teach the curriculum, eschewing all other books targeting the programme from publishers including Oxford University Press, Pearson, Scholastic, and Collins Learning. 

The programme aims to bring the UK in line with world-leading cities in maths education including Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong by recognising all pupils are capable of achieving high standards in mathematics and not moving on to new challenges before every member of the class is up to speed. 

To do this, the DfE has committed to training teachers up and is offering to match individual schools’ spending on textbooks up to £2,000 if they select a text from a recommended list. While the DfE has so far trained up 280 "mastery specialists", it has confirmed that Maths - No Problem is the only textbook it has seen fit to recommend for the programme to date. However, a spokesperson said there would be another opportunity for publishers to submit textbooks later this year. 

A DfE spokesperson told The Bookseller: "The teaching for mastery programme is expanding high-quality maths teaching in primary schools to increase the number of children mastering the basics of numeracy. The use of a high quality textbook is central to teaching for mastery. The textbooks were assessed against a clear set of criteria and judged by an expert panel. There will be another opportunity for publishers to submit textbooks later this year and we plan to publish an updated list early next year.” 

Spearheading Maths – No Problem is Martin Casimir, formerly managing director at Bloomsbury Professional, who became m.d. at the independent at the end of last year when he pledged to take the company "to the next stage" as a "disrupter" - a task he appears to be succeeding in.

Kate Moore, head of marketing at Maths – No Problem, said the press had spent one month preparing 100 pages of evidence to submit to the DfE's expert panel  to make sure it "passed every gate" in what she described was a "rigorous" process to gain the accrediation it needed. It was "a prize worth winning", though, she said; Maths – No Problem is now getting ready for an expected "rush" in September and having to reprint extra copies of the book.

"As a relative outsider, compared to the established publishers and university presses, we are obviously thrilled to have the quality of our textbooks officially recognised. The Department for Education selection process was rigorous to say the least, it took us a month to write the submission which ran to more than 100 pages of evidence and examples, and so this is a prize worth winning," said Moore.

"In just a few years, we have sparked a revolution in maths teaching in this country, which has attracted the attention of schools, thought leaders and policy makers. Our textbooks have enjoyed unprecedented take-up among schools as word spreads about their impact on teacher and pupil confidence. This formal recognition from the Department for Education will help cement our position as a challenger brand and leading force in maths publishing."

Oxford University Press, meanwhile, has said it was greatly "concerned" that only one textbook had been approved for match-funding and revealed it was contesting the decision not to endorse its own textbook designed for the course, Inspire Maths.

A spokesperson said: "We were disappointed to find out that Inspire Maths has not been included in the DFE’s first tranche of approved textbooks, eligible for maths mastery match funding. We remain confident, having reviewed the DFE selection criteria that Inspire Maths meets and exceeds all aspects and we will be appealing the decision.

"We know that children using Inspire get the best results. It is based on the world-class Singapore Maths textbook series and independent research found significant positive effects on UK children’s maths progress after only two terms use of Inspire Maths materials. The fact that only one textbook has been identified as being available for match-funding is of great concern to us as it limits the choice of quality maths mastery textbooks to those funded schools.”