Maths Through Picture Books – trial

What is Maths Through Picture Books?

Maths Through Picture Books (MTPB) is a targeted intervention that aims to improve maths attainment for reception-aged pupils (4 – 5 years old) through shared reading and responsive conversations based on carefully selected picture books.

Teaching Assistants (TAs) will deliver two 15-minute sessions per week over a 10-week period to small groups of five pupils who have been identified as not yet having a secure understanding of number. Sessions use the ShREC approach (Share attention, Respond, Expand, Conversation) to support sustained, multi-turn conversations about number and operations.

Who is leading this project?

Training is delivered by a team of expert educators from East London Research School (ELRS). ELRS have significant experience of developing and delivering effective professional development programmesA programme is a package of support, including professional development, that helps early years educators to improve particular areas of practice and children’s outcomes. and have designed Maths Through Picture Books.

What will this project look like in your setting?

If randomly assigned to the intervention (programme) group, a teacher and TA from each Reception class will attend two days of in-person training, an hour-long online module, three 45-minute network meetings and three one-hour calls with a mentor. Participants will have access to online resources and telephone support. 

TAs – supported by teachers – will deliver small-group, maths-focused shared reading sessions which are intended to develop pupils’ secure understanding of numbers and increase their enjoyment of and motivation towards maths.

Intervention schools will be charged £100 per teacher/​TA pair towards the cost of training and books. Schools allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with business as usual and will receive £300 for completing all evaluation activities. 

As this is a research evaluation, both intervention (programme) and control (teaching-as-usual) schools will be required to complete some evaluation requirements. This includes supporting the evaluators with pupil assessments and completing surveys at the start and end of the programme. Staff in a small number of participating schools will be invited to take part in a voluntary telephone interview. 

Who can take part?

To participate, schools must meet the following criteria:

• Be a state-funded mainstream primary school.
• Be willing to select 6 pupils likely to benefit from the programme from each reception class.
• Be in London, South East or East of England and within travelling distance of in-person training in London or Cambridge.
• Not be taking part in any other reception EEF projects in the same time period.

How can you register your interest?

Complete the short form at the bottom of this page.

There is a small but growing body of research evidence to support the use of storybooks to teach mathematics in the early years, particularly where structured talk is central to the approach. The EEF’s Early Years and Key Stage 1 Mathematics Evidence Review identified this as a promising approach, with six studies providing a large positive aggregate effect.

When used well, picture books offer meaningful and engaging contexts for exploring mathematical concepts. However, their impact depends largely on how the books are shared and discussed with pupils. A previous pilot study of Maths Through Picture Books found evidence of promise, with indicators of positive outcomes for both pupils and practitioners. This trial has therefore been commissioned to test the impact of the programme at a larger scale.

The programme will be evaluated by IFF Research through a randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes.. The evaluation will be an efficacy trial, meaning it will test the programme by comparing outcomes for schools randomly allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. (receiving the programme) with those allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. (continuing teaching as usual) under ideal conditions. The trial will assess the impact on pupils’ maths attainment and on educators’ early maths beliefs, confidence, knowledge and levels of maths anxiety. An implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will also explore how the programme is delivered and schools’ perceptions of it.