As a former secondary English teacher, I have always been drawn to the power of talk.
Whether analysing a poem, debating a character’s motives, or exploring the meaning of a historical speech, I saw classroom discussion as one of the most powerful tools available to teachers. Over the years, as Induction and CPD lead, and now Director of Essex Research School, I have continued to be fascinated by the relationship between talk, thinking, and learning.
So perhaps it should not have surprised me that one of the most useful resources I have come across recently has emerged not from literacy research, but from mathematics.
The EEF’s (Education Endowment Foundation) TOLD framework was developed to support high-quality mathematical discussion in classrooms.
While designed for mathematics, it struck me immediately as a framework that captures many of the principles of effective classroom dialogue that teachers across disciplines seek to develop. Most importantly, it offers maths teachers a practical route to Recommendation 6 from the EEF’s Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3 guidance report: developing pupils’ independence and motivation through metacognition and reflection.
Why Talk Matters in Mathematics
For many years, classroom talk in mathematics has sometimes been associated with simple question-and-answer routines:
• “What is the answer?” • “How did you get that?” • “Is that correct?“
While these interactions certainly have value, research suggests that high-quality talk can do much more. Productive discussion enables pupils to make their thinking visible, challenge misconceptions, compare strategies, and develop deeper conceptual understanding. The EEF highlights the importance of discussion across its mathematics guidance reports and developed the TOLD resource to help teachers structure these interactions more deliberately.
Let’s break it down: The Four Elements of TOLD
EEF TOLD poster
T – Take Part
The first challenge is ensuring that all pupils participate.
Anyone who has taught a class knows that discussion can easily become dominated by a small number of confident contributors. The TOLD framework encourages teachers to establish expectations that everyone contributes and to actively draw quieter pupils into discussions.
This principle resonates strongly with evidence around classroom participation. If only a handful of pupils are verbalising their thinking, teachers gain only a partial picture of what the class understands.
In practice, this might involve asking pupils to discuss a problem with a partner before sharing with the whole class, using mini-whiteboards to ensure everyone commits to an answer, or employing structured routines such as “Think, Pair, Share”. A Year 8 class exploring proportional reasoning, for example, might first solve a problem independently, then explain their approach to a partner before the teacher selects pupils to share different strategies.
The goal is not simply more talk, but broader participation in mathematical thinking.
O – Opportunities
In English lessons, I was rarely satisfied with a pupil simply stating an opinion. “Because…” was often the most important word in the classroom.
The same principle applies in mathematics. TOLD encourages teachers to prompt pupils to explain, justify, and elaborate on their thinking. Rather than accepting answers alone, we seek the reasoning behind them.
Consider a pupil who states that the answer to a percentage problem is 15. Instead of moving straight on, the teacher might ask:
• How did you arrive at that answer?
• Which mathematical principle did you use?
• Could you explain your method to someone who was absent yesterday?
Alternatively, pupils might be presented with a completed solution and asked to explain the reasoning behind each step.
These opportunities help pupils develop the language of mathematics while making their thinking visible to both the teacher and their peers. Importantly, they also reveal misconceptions that may remain hidden if we focus solely on correct answers.
L – Links
One of the EEF’s key recommendations is helping pupils develop a rich network of mathematical knowledge. Strong mathematicians recognise connections between concepts, procedures, and representations.
The “Link Ideas” element of TOLD supports this directly.
Teachers might ask:
• How does this connect to something we learned previously?
• Is there another method that would work?
• What is similar or different about these approaches?
For example, when introducing algebraic simplification, a teacher might explicitly connect it to pupils’ earlier understanding of arithmetic and equivalence. Pupils could be asked to compare the expression 3x + 2x with combining five identical objects, helping them see the underlying structure.
Similarly, when studying probability, pupils might connect fraction knowledge from Key Stage 2 to new concepts involving likelihood.
These deliberate connections help pupils organise knowledge into coherent schemas rather than viewing topics as isolated units of work.
D – Debate
Perhaps the most powerful element of the framework is debate.
In mathematics, pupils can sometimes assume there is only one correct route to an answer. Yet mathematical thinking often benefits from comparing strategies, evaluating efficiency, and considering alternative approaches.
The TOLD framework encourages teachers to create opportunities for productive disagreement and discussion.
For example, pupils might be shown two different methods for solving the same equation and asked:
• Which method would you choose and why?
• Is one method more efficient?
• Are both methods always valid?
Another powerful approach is to present a deliberately flawed solution and ask pupils to identify and debate the error. Consider the statement:
“When you multiply a number by ten, you simply add a zero.“
Pupils could discuss whether this is always true, sometimes true, or never true, drawing on examples involving decimals to challenge the claim.
These discussions encourage pupils to evaluate ideas rather than simply accept them. In doing so, they begin to think and communicate more like mathematicians.
A Leadership Reflection
Looking across the framework, what strikes me is that TOLD is not about generating more classroom noise. Rather, it is about making mathematical thinking visible. Each element helps teachers move beyond answer-getting towards understanding how pupils are reasoning, connecting ideas and refining their thinking through discussion.
What particularly appeals to me about TOLD is that it exemplifies something we discuss frequently within the Research School Network: evidence-informed practice is often less about adopting entirely new initiatives and more about refining existing habits. Most maths teachers already ask questions. Most already facilitate discussion. Most already encourage pupils to explain their thinking.
TOLD simply provides a memorable framework that helps make these practices more intentional and more equitable.
As leaders, we are often searching for approaches that are both evidence-informed and practical. TOLD appears to offer exactly that. It translates broad research principles about dialogue, reasoning, and metacognition into concrete classroom actions that teachers can implement immediately.
Beyond Mathematics?
Although developed for mathematics, I suspect many readers will recognise elements of TOLD within their own subject disciplines.
At its heart, the framework is about helping pupils think together. It is about creating classrooms where participation is expected, reasoning is valued, connections are made explicit, and ideas can be explored through discussion.
For maths teachers, TOLD provides a useful evidence-informed structure for developing productive classroom talk. For the rest of us, it serves as a reminder that some of the most powerful learning happens not when pupils are simply answering questions, but when they are using talk to build understanding together.
Perhaps that is something an English teacher and a maths teacher can agree on…
Key Takeaways for Teachers and Leaders
1. Mathematical talk needs to be planned, not left to chance. High-quality discussion rarely emerges spontaneously. TOLD provides a simple structure that helps teachers deliberately develop participation, reasoning, connections and debate.
2. Focus on the thinking behind the answer. The most valuable insight often comes not from whether a pupil is right or wrong, but from understanding how they arrived at their answer.
3. Small changes can have a big impact. Strategies such as Think-Pair-Share, asking pupils to justify their reasoning, or presenting multiple solution methods can significantly enrich classroom dialogue without requiring wholesale curriculum changes.
4. Participation matters. If only a small number of pupils are contributing, we may be missing important information about what the rest of the class understands. Structured opportunities for all pupils to engage are essential.
5. Effective talk supports deeper learning. Discussion helps pupils connect ideas, identify misconceptions and develop the habits of thinking that underpin mathematical success.
6. TOLD is as much about culture as it is about strategy. At its heart, the framework encourages classrooms where pupils are expected to explain, challenge, justify and refine their thinking together.
