The causal effect of East Asian 'mastery' teaching methods on English children's mathematics skills?

John Jerrim () and Anna Vignoles
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John Jerrim: Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University College London

No 15-05, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. Although there are many possible explanations for this, East Asian teaching methods and curriculum design are two factors to have particularly caught policymakers' attention. Yet there is currently little evidence as to whether any particular East Asian teaching method actually represents an improvement over the status quo in England, and whether such methods can be successfully introduced into Western education systems. This paper provides new evidence on this issue by presenting results from two clustered Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT's), where a Singaporean inspired 'mastery' approach to teaching mathematics was introduced into a selection of England's primary and secondary schools. We find evidence of a modest but positive treatment effect. Moreover, even under conservative assumptions, the programme has the potential to offer substantial economic returns.

Keywords: Maths Mastery; Randomised Controlled Trial; Singapore; PISA. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-06-18
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