More than a third of Year 8 students with low prior attainment say their maths lessons move on to new content before they have understood the current topics, a major study reveals.
The finding comes in a review of the subject produced by the University of Nottingham’s Observatory for Mathematical Education.
It raises concern that knowledge gaps could be widening rather than closing as students progress through secondary school.
Maths mastery is the concept of allowing students to master a concept before moving on to the next one, which includes allowing more time or giving extra support.
Knowledge gaps in maths
The report notes that “a key aim of England’s current Teaching for Mastery approach is that the vast majority of pupils develop a good understanding of the mathematics that is taught in order that this will then provide a firm basis for subsequent learning”.
It says that while most Year 8 teachers (62 per cent) “wait until all pupils are ready to progress before moving to a new topic” in most or all lessons, 23 per cent of teachers “regularly move on to a new topic before they consider that all pupils are ready to progress”.
Students were asked to rate their agreement with the statement “I understand topics before we move on”.
Overall, 18 per cent of students responded negatively.
However, low prior attaining students were much more likely to respond negatively. More than a third of these disagreed a lot or a little with this statement compared with just 9 per cent of the highest prior attaining students.
The university said the findings suggest “knowledge gaps may be accumulating rather than closing as pupils progress through secondary school”.
The review of mathematical education is based on responses from around 50,000 learners, parents, teachers and curriculum leaders across 174 primary schools, 148 secondary schools and 41 sixth-form colleges.
This is the second year of the cohort study and it includes responses from pupils in Reception and Year 1, Years 7 and 8, and Years 12 and 13.
Attitudes differ by gender
The study also found that gender gaps in perceptions of maths widen as students move up year groups.
In Year 1, girls are slightly more likely to report being worried or very worried if they cannot answer maths questions quickly - 52 per cent versus 48 per cent of boys.
However, by Year 8, girls are significantly more likely than boys to report anxiety about maths, even after controlling for prior attainment.
The report also notes that for A-level maths students, girls are much less positive about the subject: 24 per cent report enjoying maths less than in Year 12, compared with 16 per cent of boys.
Researchers said that the findings suggest “gender differences in attitudes towards maths grow over time, which may explain why female students opt out of A-level and undergraduate maths”.
Lessons dominated by algebra
The report also examines how much the 2014 curriculum reforms are reflected in current teaching.
Ratio, proportion and rates of change were given greater emphasis in the 2014 curriculum reforms as a separate strand to be covered.
However, in 2025 the researchers found that ratio, proportion and rates of change featured in only 2 per cent of the most recent lessons reported by Year 7 teachers.
In the most recent study findings, Year 8 lessons appeared to be dominated by algebra.
Some 40 per cent of teachers reported that their most recent lesson focused on algebra, with just 11 per cent of Year 8 lessons focused on ratio.
The university said the findings “raise important questions about how curriculum reform is translated into teaching practice, and what lessons can be learned for the government’s curriculum and assessment review.”
