Towards Whole-class Interactive Teaching.

This paper considers an approach to addressing the decline in the level of achievement of British pupils in mathematics. It looks in detail at the differences between the teaching methods of Britain and Hungary, as research studies have indicated the high level of achievement of Hungarian pupils in mathematics. The paper outlines three theoretical perspectives (radical constructivism, social constructivism and Vygotsky's zone of proximal development) that are helpful in considering the important differences. The major differences are considered under four categories: expectation and consistency, assessment, continuity and differentiated teaching. The paper proposes the method of whole-class interactive teaching as a way forward that would improve pupils' achievement, and gives practical suggestions for developing such a teaching strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]