The balancing act: Maths teaching that is knowledge-rich and child-centred
Written by: Andy Ash
8 min read
ANDY ASH, MATHS LEAD, HOLY FAMILY MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST, UK
The national context: Knowledge-rich curriculum and teaching for mastery
Over the past 10 years in England, there has been a shift in national education policy towards what is termed a ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum (DfE, 2013; Gibb, 2021). This terminology is used to describe a curriculum centred on knowledge acquisition, and has been strongly associated with so-called ‘teacher-led instruction’, which is contrasted with ‘child-centred’ teaching (Gibb, 2017). Debates about these two views have been ongoing for decades and are well reported elsewhere, but some argue that it is a false dichotomy. In this article, I will report on an aspect of my recently completed doctoral research, where I found myself reflecting on this issue in relation to primary school maths. I take ‘child-centred’ teaching to refer to teaching that amplifies the importance of pupil attributes, such as autonomy and collaboration. In addition to
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