30/09/2026
If ‘mastery’ has been introduced as ‘all children must do the same thing at the same time’ then this will lead to problems.
Likewise, children being labelled and/or grouped with fixed ability labels (usually based on historic prior attainment) will also lead to the progress of some children being artificially capped.
Trying to balance supporting all learners to achieve in every lesson is an ongoing challenge and one of the most frequent questions we are asked is…
“How do I differentiate and bring learners along together?”
The use of labels is the BIG issue here:
- The use of ‘ability’ labels.
Typically, pupils are labelled ‘less able’, ‘more able’, etc based on their prior attainment.
Historic data can be interesting but it only tells you about the past not the future.
- The use of the label ‘mastery’.
It is used in different ways by different people. It feels some resources have simply used the label ‘mastery’ to make them sound relevant and/or trendy.
We believe ‘mastery’ is about teaching for secure and deep understanding.
At each stage, the aim is to support all pupils to have a secure understanding of mathematical concepts and to challenge pupils by deepening their understanding.
We tackle this and other key issues with implementing the 'mastery' approach here, in the hope that it helps you identify what might be holding you back in your classroom.
https://candomaths.mykajabi.com/blog/mastery-is-not-working
