The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and leading algorithmic trading company XTX Markets have today launched a new partnership to develop the evidence base for effective maths teaching. This will provide schools, teachers, and policymakers with valuable information to support their practice.
XTX Markets will contribute up to £3.9m to fund independent evaluations of maths interventions that aim to improve outcomes for 11 – 16-year-olds in secondary schools in England. The EEF will contribute a similar amount, meaning the total spend is expected to be over £7m.
By the end of primary school, there is already a large attainment gap in maths. In 2022, just over half (56%) of pupils from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds reached the expected level in maths by the end of primary schools, compared to over three-quarters (78%) of pupils from non-disadvantaged backgrounds.
But even for those disadvantaged pupils who achieve high grades at the end of primary school, recent analysis by the University of Nottingham found that just half go on to get a grade 7 or above in their maths GCSE.
