The prevalence and use of textbooks and curriculum resources in primary maths

This project will investigate the prevalence and use of maths textbooks in primary school teaching in England.

Since 2016, the Department for Education has invested £76m in providing eligible primary schools with matched funding of up to £2,000 to purchase one of three approved maths textbooks underpinned by a Teaching for Mastery approach. The impacts of this initiative are unknown, and the lack of robust research on how teachers and schools use textbooks limits the scope for evidence-driven pedagogy and policy. Evidence suggests the structure and theoretical underpinnings of Teaching for Mastery textbooks can support high-quality teaching and learning. However, this is dependent upon textbooks being used authentically, and there are some indications teachers use textbooks in ways unintended by the author.

The research will involve two surveys. The first will be a population-wide survey of school-level practices, investigating current practice, trends, and the factors influencing the uptake and use of textbooks. The second will be a short subsidiary survey of teachers’ practices, focusing on congruence between reported school-level practice and teacher practices. Every state-funded, non-alternative primary school in England will be invited to take part in the school-level survey, and the researchers hope to receive responses from approximately 17,000 schools. This would allow the researchers to carry out subgroup analysis by a range of school-level characteristics. The teacher questionnaire will be administered via TeacherTapp, an online platform that surveys over 8,000 teachers every day. The researchers anticipate receiving 1,500 responses, including around 300 from mathematics leads.

This study will inform future policy and practice decisions related to funding for primary mathematics resources and teacher training.