Gleaning the best of two worlds

Shanghai math pedagogy

The Shanghai math pedagogy has in the past decade gained recognition around the world for helping the city to become top for math in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's program for international student assessment rankings for students aged 15 and 16 years old in 2009 and 2012. During this period, the UK government was also looking at different ways to improve math knowledge in the country, and it eventually decided to adopt some elements of Shanghai math instruction in the local curriculum.

Presently, about 5,000 of Britain's 16,000 primary schools have adopted the Shanghai math pedagogy. The UK government has also committed 41 million pounds ($54.5 million) to help at least 8,000 schools adopt this teaching method by 2020, according to earlier reports. Huang adds that Shanghai math textbooks for Grade 1 to 6 students have also been made available for use in UK classrooms since 2017.

"The exchange program does not mean to replicate each other's teaching approaches, but to learn from each other," says Zhang Minxuan, program leader and dean of the Research Institute for International and Comparative Education at Shanghai Normal University.

"Shanghai math practitioners can learn to further integrate cutting-edge technology into our basic mathematics education," adds Zhang as he points out that English math teachers often use computers to create mathematical models for homework.