Maths teaching days vary by 18 days a year, study finds

SOME children get 18 fewer days of maths teaching a year than others because of huge variations between and within primary schools.

An ESRI study of 8,500 nine-year-olds at 850 primary schools revealed what researcher Selina McCoy said was a surprising difference in the time spent on different subjects.

The variations were not just between schools, but also within schools as the gender, experience and characteristics of teachers and the type of school a child attends also influence what areas of the curriculum they focus on. Forexample, it emerged that: