Azara Blog: Ofsted says school mathematics teaching is not great

Date published: 2006/05/17

Too many schools are "teaching to the test" in mathematics, stifling genuinely stimulating thinking about the subject, a report suggests.
Education watchdog Ofsted looked at 26 schools, sixth forms and other colleges in England and found that about half of lessons failed in this regard.
Many 14 to 19-year-olds "did not expect to understand mathematics", it said.
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Ofsted found many lessons "lacked sufficient flair, imagination and challenge to get the best from students".
They did not allow them to develop their "ability to reason and discover solutions for themselves".
In a few GCSE lessons, they were given "incorrect, incomplete, inappropriate or misleading information".
Ofsted recommended that teaching at this stage should focus on "high levels of performance and secure understanding" to prepare students for going on to A-level.
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Ofsted's director of education, Miriam Rosen, said: "At present too many students do not expect to understand mathematics.
"Students try to pass exams by memorising lots of unconnected facts rather than a few guiding principles.
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The Association of School and College Leaders said Ofsted's criticism of schools and colleges for teaching to the test in maths was amazingly hypocritical.
General secretary John Dunford said: "Schools are judged by Ofsted on the results of those tests, and head teachers are losing their jobs when Ofsted decides that pupils are not doing well enough in the tests.
"Instead of criticising the teaching, Ofsted should be criticising the tests, on which schools not unreasonably base their classroom work."

Yes, Ofsted is being totally hypocritical. Ofsted is part of the problem, not part of the solution. And this problem does not occur just in maths, but in all subjects. When schools are rewarded for "teaching to the test", it is not that surprising when they do.

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