Education, Training and Skills
International comparisons of standards in mathematics have been the subject of detailed investigation by the Institute's team (under the direction of Professor Sig Prais) for almost a
decade. Earlier work on vocational training and the structure of vocational qualifications highlighted the need to raise basic levels of numeracy amongst our school-leavers. More recently
the team has been involved in a collaborative research initiative with the Inspection and Advisory Service of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, focusing on standards of
mathematics, teaching styles and lesson materials. Progress of weaker pupils, who in the past have been disadvantaged by the methods widely practised in the teaching of mathematics in
English schools, has been a particular concern.
Improving Primary Mathematics: NIESR researchers have worked closely with the Inspection and Advisory Service of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) to develop new whole-class teaching styles and lesson materials based on those used in Swiss schools. These have been implemented in primary schools in LBBD with a total of 15,000 children ( Year 1 to Year 4) now being taught using the Swiss methods.
The AXIOM Project At the secondary school level, the AXIOM project on numeracy has developed lesson materials for use in the teaching of mathematics to Year 7 pupils (in their first year of secondary schooling) in all secondary schools in Barking and Dagenham.