: The Problem with Problem Solving (and What We Can Do About It) We’ve all seen it – a child who can fly through column multiplication completely freezes the moment they hit a word problem

We’ve all seen it. A child who can absolutely fly through a page of column multiplication completely freezes the moment they hit a word problem. They look at you, look at the page, and ask, ​“Do I need to add or times?” It’s a symptom of a bigger issue: we often treat being ​“good at maths” as simply being quick at calculating.

Recommendation 3 of the EEF’s Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3 guidance explicitly states that pupils need to be taught specific problem-solving strategies. It shouldn’t be a ​“Friday afternoon extension” for the fast finishers; it needs to be central to daily lessons. To get kids past that ​“I’m stuck” wall, we have to arm them with an actual toolbox.

The Strategies for the Classroom

When a child is panicking, they need actionable habits. These are the ones I try to model and display on my working wall:

• Draw it out / Bar Models: Getting kids to sketch a quick bar model drops the cognitive load instantly.
• Get the manipulatives out: Counters and cubes aren’t just for struggling learners. Even greater depth kids need to physically manipulate a problem to see its structure.
• Spot the pattern and work systematically: Kids tend to wildly guess numbers when they are stuck. I find myself constantly repeating: ​“Stop guessing. Show me a system.”
• Work backwards: This is useful for multi-step inverse problems where they know the finish line but not the starting point.
• Break it down: Teaching them to slice a big word problem into bite-sized steps stops them from feeling overwhelmed.

When It Doesn’t Go To Plan

Of course, introducing these strategies isn’t a silver bullet. Last term, I tried to teach systematic searching to my Year 3s using a problem about finding all the different combinations of coins to complete a problem. I thought using real plastic coins would be a foolproof, hands-on lesson. Instead, half the class got completely bogged down building towers with the silver coins, trading them with neighbours, or wildly guessing random combinations without writing anything down. It turned into complete chaos. It was a stark reminder that just handing kids manipulatives isn’t enough; you have to explicitly teach the system of tracking the maths alongside the physical objects, otherwise it just becomes a playtime distraction. They need to be the norm.

How to Make It Stick

We can’t just put these strategies on a poster and hope for the best. Kids don’t naturally stumble across them.

1. Live-model the struggle: When I’m modeling at the board, I try to think aloud, make mistakes, choose a less effective strategy, and show how I pivot. ​“Actually, drawing a table isn’t helping me here. Let me try a number equation instead.”
2. Ditch ​‘Problem-Solving Week’: Weave one rich problem into the daily routine. Stick it on the board as an anchor task at the start of a lesson so they face reasoning every day.
3. Get them talking: Use talk partners. Instead of asking for the answer, ask, ​“Who used a different method?” Recommendation 4 of the EEF guidance highlights the power of mathematical dialogue, and they often learn more from critiquing a peer’s approach than listening to a teacher explain it.
4. Ask guiding questions: When circulating, avoid giving the answer. Instead, ask: What strategy are we trying here? Why did you pick that one? What’s the backup plan?

Our kids need more than just the ability to churn out calculations. We want to build pupils who can look at a messy, non-routine problem and have the resilience to try a few different paths until they find one that works.