Maths Champions Scale-up Evaluation
Client: Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
Duration: 2025 - 2027
Geography: England
Solutions: Evaluation, Research
Children from lower-income backgrounds show lower early number knowledge and mathematical language at age 3-4 than their less disadvantaged peers. At primary level, the most recent Key Stage 2 assessments in England show that just 74% of children meet the expected standard in maths at the end of primary school; yet, a stubbornly high attainment gap of 21% between disadvantaged pupils and their less disadvantaged peers underlines key differences in outcomes regarding pupils’ socio-economic background.
Quality early years provision, with an enriching numeracy curriculum, is important to support children’s maths development and long-term outcomes. However, practitioner confidence remains a barrier and practitioners feel less secure in supporting children’s mathematical development than in other areas of learning. Moreover, many nursery practitioners lack training in maths provision, particularly in more disadvantaged areas.
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) developed the Maths Champions (MC) programme with the aim of building the confidence and knowledge of nursery practitioners to support the development of children’s early maths skills. The EEF has run two randomised controlled trials of the Maths Champions programme (published in 2018 and 2024) in England, which both showed positive outcomes for children’s mathematical attainment.
Oxford MeasurEd is conducting a mixed-methods implementation and process evaluation (IPE) of the Maths Champions scale-up in the 2026/27 academic year. Our evaluation will explore how the programme is implemented in practice, barriers and facilitators to scaling and how settings are supported in sustaining practices beyond the delivery period. The aim of the evaluation is to:
inform the further roll-out of the programme;
contribute to the evidence base around effective scaling in the English education system; and
support the further scale-up of other EY educational interventions.
Key Activities:
Development of a scaling theory of change (ToC)
Analysis of programmatic data collected by NDNA
Interviews with NDNA staff
Interviews with local authority staff and DfE representatives
Interviews with Maths Champions at participating nurseries
In-depth case studies of participating nurseries and nurseries taking part in a previous iteration of Maths Champions (‘old’ nurseries), drawing on ‘ethnographic’ approaches
Surveys with participating nurseries, ‘old’ nurseries and ‘non-adopters’ (nurseries who signed an expression of interest form but chose not to take part)
