Last year we surveyed two thousand pupils in Years 6 to 9 to find out more about their experience of maths in Key Stage 3. We found attitudes to maths got worse between Year 6 and Year 7, concentrated amongst pupils who were doing well in maths. We now want to understand how this change happens over the course of the transition to secondary. To do this we are surveying a group of pupils once per term from the summer of Year 6 to the summer of Year 7.
This post discusses what we learned from the Year 6 pupils surveyed this summer. It explores big issues around disadvantage, and the different school experiences of children from different backgrounds.
The difference between pupils from low and high socio-economic status families
Our research last year found a stark shift in attitudes to maths between pupils in Year 6 and those in Year 7. This year we want to get a clearer picture of how disadvantage affects this.
In this blog we’ve looked at the difference between pupils from high and low socio-economic status (SES) households. This was defined using ONS approximated social grades (ABC1 as high-SES and C2DE as low-SES).
We compare pupils with SATs score above 100. Partly we’ve picked this cut-off because we were relying on parents’ memory of their child’s SATs score, and this is a memorable threshold. But mostly it is because our research last year found that pupils below this threshold had a very different (and much more positive) experience of transition.
Any differences discussed below are statistically significant (p<0.05). Unless otherwise specified we are always talking about pupils with SATs scores above 100.
Lower-SES pupils are less likely to think that school makes them a better person
75% of all pupils feel that school makes them a better person. But there is a clear (12 percentage point) gap between pupils in high and low-SES families. 69% of pupils from lower-SES families say that school makes them a better person, vs 81% of their higher-SES peers.
We’ll see what happens to this gap as pupils move into secondary school, but the scale of the gap at primary should be a cause for concern. It matters that pupils feel their school is doing more than just helping them to pass the test.
Perhaps linked to this, pupils from lower-SES families are less likely (35% vs 50%) to say that their friends are the “ones who get involved with activities”.
Are lower-SES pupils having a different experience of primary school? One that is less well-rounded, where they perceive it to be having less of an impact on developing them as people? If so, what does this mean for them as they arrive into the bigger, less-structured environment of secondary school?
They’re less likely to solve puzzles or problems in maths class
We should be encouraged by the prevalence of problem-solving in primary maths classrooms. 68% of all pupils say that they solve maths puzzles or problems in their maths lessons – more than the proportion who say they do worksheets.
However, there is still a SES gap. Pupils from higher-SES families are more likely than other pupils to do puzzles and problems in their maths lessons (76% say this), whereas their lower-SES peers are not. Lower-SES pupils are as likely to do worksheets as problems, whereas their higher-SES peers are 16 percentage points more likely to say they do problems than to say they do worksheets.
This is despite problem-solving being pupils’ favourite part of maths. When we asked pupils which areas of maths they like, problem solving came out top.
There also appears to be a gap in curriculum coverage. Pupils from lower-SES families are more than twice as likely to say that they haven’t covered algebra in their maths lessons.
Are lower-SES pupils having a different experience of what maths is? One that is perhaps less demanding, both in terms of problem-solving and curriculum coverage? If so, what does that mean for them arriving in a secondary maths classroom with peers whose experience has been richer?
There is a significant gap in maths anxiety
We asked pupils how they tend to feel when they come across something new in maths, either a new topic or a new type of question. The most popular response, selected by 35% of all pupils, was “interested”, shortly followed by “curious” (31%). Year 6 pupils like learning new bits of maths!
But plenty of pupils (23%) also feel “nervous”. And there is a significant gap here amongst pupils from lower and higher-SES families – 26% vs only 7%. Having a SATs score above 100 reduces your likelihood of feeling nervous about new bits of maths, but only if you’re from a higher-SES family.
There is a similar gap in positive reactions. Pupils from higher-SES families are more likely to say they feel motivated (35% vs 20%) and interested (43% vs 35%) when encountering new areas of maths.
Why are pupils from lower-SES backgrounds more nervous about new maths? Why are they less likely to feel the positive emotions their higher-SES peers feel?
Lower-SES pupils are less likely to think that mathematicians will go far in life
We asked pupils to pick options to complete the sentence “People who are good at maths are…”. Pupils from higher-SES families were 50% more likely to say that mathematicians “will go far in life” (36% vs 24%). They’re also more likely than other pupils to say that people who are good at maths are “like me”, whereas their peers from lower-SES families are not.
Some good news amongst this, the proportion of all pupils who picked “boring” was very low (6%). Although even here there is a gap, as it was only 3% amongst higher-SES pupils.
Are pupils from lower-SES backgrounds hearing different messages about the value of mathematics? Are they feeling uneasy or unwelcome in the community of mathematicians?
What does this mean for transition?
We know that pupils from lower-SES families are at greater risk of falling off track in maths during the transition to secondary school. We hope that a deeper understanding of their primary school experience might help secondary teachers and leaders to tackle this.
Our findings so far suggest a gap in pupils’ attitudes to school, not as a place of learning but as a place that shapes pupils as people. Lower-SES pupils are less likely to see school like this, and less likely to engage in wider parts of school life. They’re also less familiar with problem-solving – even though they like it.
And they’re less positive about themselves as mathematicians. Although curious, they’re also nervous about learning new maths. This is perhaps linked to them feeling that they aren’t mathematicians themselves.
There are deep issues here around disadvantage, many of which are beyond a blog about maths education. But as teachers and leaders of maths we’re not powerless. We have an opportunity to reset expectations of school during the autumn term. We can flood pupils with positive experiences and a positive culture. We can give them rich classroom experiences where they’re exposed to joyful maths. We can create environments where curiosity trumps nerves. We can start closing the disadvantage gap before it opens further.