What gets assessed gets taught

Maths Horizons has identified four areas of change that we believe will support the goal of a richer maths curriculum with problem solving at its heart. 

Suggested changes
Curriculum	1	Rebalance content from upper primary to lower secondary, allowing more time for knowledge to be secure and flexible, including opportunities for problem solving and reasoning for all students
	2	Greater specificity and coherence within the programme of study about the mathematical meaning and purpose of what students are taught
	3	Make problem solving and reasoning accessible to all by specifying that students should solve problems using mathematical content from prior years
Assessment	4	Incentivise the teaching of problem solving and reasoning by increasing the proportion of marks allocated to problem solving and reasoning in key stage 2 SATs and GCSEs.

If we want problem solving and reasoning to sit at the heart of mathematics education, we cannot treat assessment as a neutral backdrop. 

Assessment is one of the most powerful levers for change in education. It shapes what is taught, how it is taught, how time is allocated, and how curriculum priorities are set. When particular forms of mathematical thinking are foregrounded in high-stakes assessments, they become embedded in everyday classroom practice. When they are marginal, they risk becoming marginal in the curriculum itself.

This is why Maths Horizons is arguing for a clear and deliberate shift: to increase the proportion of marks allocated to problem solving and reasoning in Key Stage 2 SATs and GCSEs.

Through changes to the national curriculum, we have an opportunity for pupils to develop the ability to reason mathematically and solve problems. However, in practice, teachers must make decisions about how to use limited curriculum time, inevitably influenced by assessment. If problem solving and reasoning are assessed infrequently, or in limited and predictable ways, then they are more likely to be treated as peripheral luxuries once core content has been covered, which in turn can lead to problem solving being reserved only for the highest achieving pupils.

This creates a clear tension. On the one hand, we state that problem solving is central to mathematics. On the other, our assessment systems signal that procedural fluency is what matters most. If we are serious about resolving this tension, assessment must actively incentivise the teaching of problem solving and reasoning, not merely acknowledge their importance in principle.

A key issue is that sits alongside how we assess problem solving is how it appears. In many current approaches, problem solving and reasoning are:

• compartmentalised into particular questions or sections 

• signposted in advance, making the required mathematics predictable 

• or constrained in structure, limiting the kinds of thinking pupils need to do 

This can lead to a situation where pupils learn to recognise the type of question they are being asked, rather than developing the ability to identify and use relevant mathematics independently.

Increasing the proportion of marks allocated to problem solving and reasoning should not be about adding more extended questions at the end of an exam paper. It requires embedding these forms of thinking throughout assessment, so that they are integral rather than incidental. 

What we choose to assess sends a powerful message about what mathematics education is for. If we value problem solving and reasoning, our assessment systems must reflect that. What we assess determines what counts. 

Maths Horizons is an independent programme drawing on an extensive evidence base to inform and support system change in maths education.