| dc.description.abstract | Background: Inspire Maths is the UK edition of My Pals Are Here! first launched in January 2015 by Oxford University Press. It consists of a textbook series and pedagogical approach that emphasises the teaching of mathematics through multiple representations of mathematical concepts – specifically the use of a Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach. It is an example of the East Asian mastery-based approach to teaching mathematics that is gaining increasing international prominence in both research communities and in educational policies, and both within the UK as well as internationally. Methods: This evaluation aimed to establish the effects of Inspire Maths via a clustered Randomised Control Trial (RCT) that followed 576 Year 1 pupils (aged 5-6 years) for one school year in the first schools to implement both Inspire Maths and the 2015 English National Curriculum. The RCT used a mixed methods approach and was driven by theories from the educational research fields of teacher effectiveness and school improvement. It used researcher-administered tests of children's mathematics attainment pre- and post- the introduction of Inspire Maths, but also obtained quantitative and qualitative evidence concerning the ways that schools and teachers adopted and responded to the materials and to the pedagogical approach. Key Findings: Inspire Maths can help Year 1 pupils make significantly more progress in mathematics. We observed small but significant gains in progress after two terms’ use of the programme. In context: After two terms, the gap in mathematics attainment was twice the size of the gap found between boys and girls when they started school. Inspire Maths promotes Year 1 teaching practices that are well known to be more effective for pupil progress in the long term. Benefits to classroom practice were noted immediately following initial professional development training workshops, secondary benefits were then observed over the course of the year. Teachers were generally very positive about the Inspire Maths materials and approach. Teachers noted a number of key benefits and challenges to themselves, pupils and schools when implementing Inspire Maths. For example, teachers reported that Inspire Maths increased both their and their pupils’ confidence and subject knowledge in mathematics. These were quite consistent regardless of whether a teacher began implementing Inspire Maths in September or in January | en_GB |
