KS2 Times Table Check

The new times table check will become mandatory in June 2020 and today it was announced by Nick Gibb that the government is to start trialling its multiplication tables check in selected schools from next month (https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/school-trials-times-tables-check-begin-march).

There are already two camps forming on Edu-Twitter – for and against – with strong opinions on either side. I myself think the tests are a good idea. Having taught in upper KS2, I’ve seen first-hand children struggle to be confident manipulating fractions or calculate long multiplication, for example, because they don’t have a secure knowledge of multiplication facts.

My first action as maths leader in 2015 was to introduce a scheme to promote the learning of maths facts, including times tables (and also doubles, halves and number bonds). This system focusses on understanding, then learning by rote. Children regularly take low-stake tests to check they know these facts by heart (they need to answer at least 22/24 questions correctly in 2 minutes). I’ve taught from Y1-Y6 since this was introduced and because of how we use it – in the spirit of regular, low stakes testing which is proven to improve recall – children, in general, enjoy learning the facts and even enjoy the tests. I am aware not all children will, but speaking to children and parents/carers about it at our termly parents’ evenings, we certainly don’t have a culture of fear or pressure around them. But it is rigorous, and we aim to ensure that all children learn these maths facts by heart.

Therefore, I believe that the introduction of the tests will give teachers a set point and standard to aim for, to ensure all children learn these maths facts, and so can use and apply them ready for upper key stage 2. However, I am aware that many disagree.

Some are credible arguments against e.g. cost implications. That’s fair enough – with tightening budgets, is this the best use of money? I’m not sure. I also get that some schools already have an extensive system for learning multiplication facts, but many do not place this emphasis on it, and in my opinion, those children will be disadvantaged as they progress through KS2 and KS3.

But other arguments are flimsy and anecdotal. I’ve seen a comment that says: “Something else those with #dyslexia will fail in”. I don’t find in our in-school tests that children with dyslexia fail. Surely that’s low expectations – expecting that dyslexic children won’t be able to learn their times tables? There are also complaints that this will produce anxiety in children. This is often a generalisation that extends to ‘all’ children, even though many children I’ve taught enjoy a maths test. No, not all children do, but also not all children have a fear of them, either.

I do understand some of the criticism however the key thing to me is not the test itself, but how schools approach it. If schools develop a culture of fear around the tests, doing endless practice and making the results of the tests ‘high stake’ e.g. berating children with poor scores, moving children up or down maths sets based purely on the results, etc. then the tests will be damaging. But that’s not the fault of the test – that’s the fault of the school. And before people play the Ofsted and accountability card, I’ve worked in a school that had two consecutive RI judgments and we didn’t ever use statutory testing to put pressure on children. We got our ‘Good’ in June last year despite attainment still not being high so I don’t buy the accountability as an excuse to put pressure on children.

I welcome any thoughts in the comments – both for and against!