Two primary school teachers from Shanghai recently spent eight days teaching maths at Westgate Primary School in Otley. Yuan Yueping and Ji Changzhen taught alongside Helen Carpenter from Westgate Primary School, who went on a research visit to Minhang Experimental Primary school in Shanghai in September last year.
The exchange is part of a project, funded by the Department for Education (DfE), to help English primary school teachers understand and implement some of the key elements of Shanghai maths teaching that have proved so effective in helping school pupils in Shanghai reach levels of attainment far ahead of their counterparts in England and the rest of the world.
It is the first project being run as part of the National Maths Hubs programme, funded by the DfE, and coordinated by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). Thirty-four Maths Hubs have been established across England to bring about improvements in maths education for school and college pupils of all ages.
Thirty teachers from Shanghai are currently working in 17 different Maths Hub areas around England. This is the second wave of teachers from Shanghai to visit England as part of this project. The first wave, last November, covered the other 15 Maths Hubs.
For more information, see www.mathshubs.org.uk or contact steve.mccormack@ncetm.org.uk
