In my experience, teachers are good at identifying things they see as failures but find it harder to reflect on successes. It’s far easier to talk about what we want to improve than to take credit for things that have gone well.
It is vital for subject leaders to know the areas for improvement, this will form the basis of the subject development plan for the next year. It is equally important to take time to identify achievements, both in subject leadership and in the classrooms.
So let’s start with success. After a year of teaching maths for mastery, teachers at our school were amazed at the improvements in pupils’ reasoning skills, how they built on their prior learning during lessons, and their resilience when faced with unfamiliar problems. Recognising these classroom wins showed us that all the hard work put in during the year to change unhelpful, deeply embedded teaching practices had paid off.
Implementing maths mastery is often talked of as a journey. To get the most out of it, it’s a good idea to evaluate the effectiveness of maths mastery and adapt its use over several years. Making tweaks each year means it becomes a more effective way to improve engagement and attainment in maths.
But, before you think about making changes, first you need to identify what tools are available to you to gather information about maths this year.