The answer was clear: in Chinese classrooms, whole-class teaching made up 72% of lesson time, compared with 24% in England.
In addition, Shanghai mathematics teaching is based upon high-quality teacher resources. All schools follow the same textbook, which is published by the Shanghai #education commission and refined and revised on an annual basis. Compare this with English schools, where, according to the Timss international survey, only 10% of mathematics teachers used textbooks as a basis for their teaching.
An enormous amount of thought and care has gone into the construction of the Shanghai mathematics curriculum, and it is anything but a straitjacket for teachers. These high-quality resources simply provide the foundation upon which creative and imaginative teaching can be built. No teacher is delivering someone else’s script.
What’s the perfect formula for learning? Whole class teaching + quality materials, according to Shanghai maths teachers.
