Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is an approach to teaching mathematics which builds on students’ informal sense-making in response to imaginable and meaningful contexts. It focuses on progressive formalisation of mathematical models, supported by interactive teaching techniques in a whole class context.
The programme is intended to be delivered by trained teachers in the classroom, supported by eight days of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and ten modules of curriculum materials covering Number, Proportional Reasoning, Data, Algebra and Geometry for Y7 and Y8, each designed to provide a minimum of two weeks teaching materials.
There have been several previous evaluations of the Realistic Mathematics Education approach that use different textbooks and materials. These evaluations suggested that RME had positive impacts on student engagement, understanding and approaches to problem solving. However, these studies were often small and used matched designs.
RME was evaluated through a two-arm, three level efficacy trial with pupils clustered into classes and classes clustered into schools. The study aimed to assess the impact of the RME approach on mathematics attainment, using the GL Progress Test in Mathematics (PTM13).
This trial was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected attendance on training and delivery, as well as outcome testing, meaning that findings need to be interpreted with caution.
Pupils in RME schools (including those eligible for FSM) made, on average, no additional progress compared to those in the control group equivalent across any of the six PTM13 subscales. This is our best estimate of impact, which however has a very low security rating.
Considering the very low security rating, this trial may be replicated in the future.