Research School Network: The Vital Importance of Early Maths The EEF’s ​‘Improving Mathematics in Early Years and Key Stage One’ offers principles for effective practice for 3 – 7 year olds

In mathematics education, a key strategy is to ask ​‘What is the same? What is different?’
Teachers and children use this to build conceptual understanding by attending to change and invariance. This guidance document emphasises ​‘what is the same’, providing
recommendations for effective mathematics teaching that are common across the 3 – 7 age
range. The report also provides examples that acknowledge the diversity of educational
contexts (‘what is different’) and demonstrate the principles in practice within different
classrooms or settings.

Here, for me, are some of the highlights from the guidance report:

The key principles for effective mathematics teaching are common to early years and key stage one. Having recommendations which apply across both phases can help with building consensus about practice in an evidence-led way. A joined up approach can provide greater continuity of experience for the child, supporting their sustained development as mathematician through activities that are appropriate for them. This is particularly important
for younger children for whom the age difference as they move from early years to key stage
one can be as much as a fifth of the child’s life.

Teaching of mathematics should be informed by knowledge of developmental progressions. Developmental progressions connect research to practice, children to mathematics, and teachers to children, according to Clements and Sarama (2014). Their learning trajectories contain probably the most well-known and comprehensive developmental progressions for early mathematics. They enable educators to build on what a child already knows and support them to learn at their own rate, avoiding moving on too quickly before conceptual understanding is secured. Children enter educational settings with significant variation in their mathematics experiences and prior learning. Even for children with similar previous encounters with number, for example, their attentiveness to numerosity, can be quite different. Important in ​‘closing the attainment gap’ is recognising that some are simply less experienced with noticing numbers. We therefore need to provide children with substantial practical and playful mathematics experiences, using developmental progressions to help identify current and next steps in learning.

Time, manipulatives and meaningful contexts are important for learning mathematics. Developing a secure understanding of early mathematical concepts takes time but this is a worthwhile investment for future mathematical learning. Children across the 3 – 7 age range need time (structured and unstructured) to explore manipulatives, to represent problems in their own ways, and to communicate their mathematical thinking (perhaps through drawings, jottings, manipulatives or dialogue). As children are engaged in sense making within mathematics, meaningful contexts – such as carefully selected games, stories and daily routines – are important for building mathematical understanding.

Children need opportunities to learn mathematics throughout the day. Given the
differences in prior mathematical experiences, children need frequent, regular, meaningful
mathematics experiences beyond the maths lesson or group time. I have recently been
working with a group of primary mathematics subject leaders who wanted to increase the
opportunities for maths learning throughout the school day. In their Nottinghamshire schools, they have taken steps to promote mathematical learning whilst moving classes around the school, at break times, through music and singing, at lunch time and in assemblies. These opportunities range from more explicit modelling of position and direction vocabulary when directing children around the school building, to installing extensive number lines and number tracks along the corridors on the routes to the school hall.

At the heart of the ​‘Improving Mathematics in Early Years and Key Stage One’ guidance report is the importance of early mathematics. It is a predictor of later achievement, not only in mathematics but in school overall (Asmussen et al. 2018). Getting it right with appropriate
provision in early years and key stage one is vital for future maths and other learning.

Dr Catherine Gripton is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of
Nottingham and works closely with Maths Hub East Midlands West with their Early Years
programmes. She engaged with the consultation on the Early Maths Guidance report.

References
Asmussen, K., Law, J., Charlton, J., Acquah, D., Brims, L., Pote, I. & McBride, T.,
(2018). Key competencies in early cognitive development: things, people, numbers and
words. London: Early Intervention Foundation.
Clements, D.H. & Sarama, J., (2014). Learning and teaching early math: the learning
trajectories approach. 2^nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.