Walk into almost any maths classroom and you’ll hear a familiar request:
“Just show me how to do it on the board.”
For many students, watching the teacher explain feels safe and comfortable. For teachers, standing at the front and working through examples feels efficient – especially when you’re under pressure to cover content.But here’s the catch: while whole-class explanations are important, research shows that if learning stops there, students often retain less, struggle more, and fail to build the confidence they need for future maths success.
Explicit Instruction Matters – But It’s Not Lecture-Only
Decades of educational research have made one thing clear: explicit instruction works. Students benefit enormously when teachers:
- Provide clear explanations of new concepts
- Share worked examples that make thinking visible
- Offer guided practice with scaffolds for success
- Give timely feedback to correct misunderstandings
Where things go wrong is when “explicit instruction” is confused with “chalk-and-talk all lesson, every lesson.”
Mathematics learning is about more than watching the teacher. Without time to practise at the right level, apply knowledge in different contexts, and receive feedback, understanding stays shallow.
The Engagement Paradox
By upper primary and early secondary years, students often say they prefer the teacher at the board. Sitting back while someone else does the heavy lifting can feel easier. And for teachers, a quiet class that seems to be “getting it” looks like a win.
But genuine engagement isn’t about compliance. It’s about success and progress. Students engage most when they experience challenges at their level, achieve mastery, and can see themselves improving.
When classrooms rely too heavily on teacher explanation, gaps remain hidden – until they show up later as frustration, avoidance, or poor results.
Why Mastery Still Matters in Years 5–8
Mathematics is relentlessly cumulative. You cannot simplify fractions without understanding division and multiplication facts, multiples and factors and the idea of equivalence. You are not ready to learn algebra effectively without fluency in arithmetic and knowledge of rational numbers (including fractions). By Years 5–8, the differences in student readiness can be enormous: some are racing ahead, while others are still struggling with basics.
That’s why mastery-based and personalised approaches are just as important in upper primary as in secondary. They allow:
- Students with gaps to revisit foundations and catch up
- On-track students to consolidate skills with confidence
- High achievers to extend into more advanced concepts without being held back
When every student learns at their level, while still engaging with year-level concepts through explicit instruction, everyone makes progress.
What an Effective Classroom Looks Like
The most effective maths classrooms blend:
- Teacher-led explicit instruction – short, focused explanations and worked examples.
- Guided practice – solving problems together, modelling strategies, checking for understanding.
- Application of mathematics – worded problems, extended mathematical investigations, modelling activities, rich tasks, projects, etc.
- Independent mastery practice – students working on targeted tasks at their level.
- Feedback and intervention – teachers stepping in with real-time support, based on evidence of where students are stuck.
This model doesn’t reduce the teacher’s role, it strengthens it. Teachers become not only explainers, but also facilitators of deep learning and growth.
Building Strong Foundations for the Future
Whether students are in Year 5 or Year 10, the story is the same: Mathematics is connected – new ideas build on earlier ones.Gaps left unaddressed don’t disappear. In fact, they compound over time, making senior maths and STEM pathways harder to access.
The best preparation for future success is not racing through content, but ensuring students have mastered the fundamentals. Solid foundations in number, fractions, algebraic thinking, and reasoning mean students enter higher years with confidence rather than fear.
A Smarter Way Forward
Explicit instruction is essential – but on its own, it isn’t enough. Students also need opportunities for structured practice, targeted feedback, learning at the right pace and opportunities to transfer their learning to solve mathematical problems in unfamiliar, real-world contexts.
That’s where Maths Pathway comes in.
Maths Pathway combines the clarity of explicit teaching with the power of personalised mastery learning. It helps teachers diagnose gaps, deliver targeted practice, and track growth – all while keeping lessons curriculum-aligned and engaging. We also provide a bank of carefully constructed mathematical investigations. For schools, it means consistent pedagogy, less planning pressure, and more confident learners.
Because in the end, the goal isn’t just to “get through the content.” It’s to ensure every student masters it, and carries that confidence into the years ahead.
