Maths Premium Pilot

About the study

The Basic Maths Premium pilot will provide additional funding to educational settings in the most disadvantaged areas of the country to support 16-18 year old students working towards a maths GCSE. The aim of the evaluation is to assess the impact of different funding structures on student outcomes and to understand how change is achieved.

The pilot will test different ways of administering the funds to institutions in order to find out which approach is best to support 16-18 year olds to succeed in maths.

Institutions can choose how to use the extra funds to drive improvements in basic Maths attainment and the evaluation will collect evidence about how the funds have been used and what has been effective.

Around 400 post-16 institutions are taking part in the study. 

The pilot was developed and is funded by the Department for Education and the evaluation is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.

Why take part?

It’s up to you whether your institution takes part in the pilot but we hope you do.  You will be providing information that will help the DfE to improve its support for 16-18 year olds working towards a maths GCSE as part of their 16 to 19 Study Programme. This is a great opportunity for post-16 educational institutions to influence the future of post-16 provision, and share good practice.

What's involved?

Institutions agreeing to take part will be randomly allocated to one of three different ways of administering a premium to institutions to support basic Maths attainment. 

The pilot will take place from September 2018 to November 2020 and will involve:

• Analysis of student data to measure which of the three funding arrangements works best in supporting students with basic Maths attainment.  Institutions will need to share their performance tables with DfE and NatCen, and provide student level information so we can access data on the National Pupil Database (for example, students’ unique learner numbers).  All data will be treated with the strictest confidence, complying with the Data Protection Act 1998, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
• Three short, online surveys completed by school leaders over the course of the pilot.
• One telephone interview with the Head of Maths in 24 pilot institutions, and one follow-up interview in 12 of these institutions,
• Short interim self-reports to the DfE on how institutions are using the additional funding or incentive of additional funding to drive improvement in student outcomes in the pilots.

Why have I been chosen?

Your school and college has been chosen as it is located within Category 5 and 6 Achieving Excellence Areas (AEA).  These areas have been identified as some of the most disadvantaged areas in the country.

The methodology behind how these areas have been identified can be found here.

To be eligible to take part in the pilot, your institution must be within AEA 5 and 6 and have 16-18 year old students starting their study programmes in September 2018 without a prior attainment of Grade 4 or above in GCSE Maths.

All institutions meeting the eligibility criteria will be invited to take part in the Basic Maths Premium Pilot. Institutions with only a small number of eligible students will not be required to take part in the evaluation activities.

FAQs

Please Note: Further information on eligibility, funding approaches, payment modalities and guidance on using funding effectively is outlined on the gov.uk website.

Can I choose the funding model?

Institutions will be randomly allocated to a funding model.  The evaluation will test 3 funding models to find out which one is the most effective in supporting 16-18 year olds with their Maths attainment.  Random allocation of institutions is essential to the evaluation to ensure that we understand which approach is most effective.

What can the funding be spent on?

Institutions can choose how to spend the extra funding to drive improvements in basic Maths attainment.  The Department for Education will provide guidance on using the extra funding effectively.

How soon do I need to decide whether to take part?

If you would like to be included in the pilot, please complete the online form sent by email by 25th May.

What if I don’t know how many eligible students I’ll have in September?

Don’t worry – we understand that you won’t know the number of eligible students until September.  In September/October you will be asked to let the DfE know how many eligible students you have at your institution.

What will I need to do for the evaluation?

So we can analyse student data to find out which of the three funding arrangements works best, institutions will need to share their student information so we can access data on the National Pupil Database. This will include students’ unique learner numbers. All data will be treated with the strictest confidence, complying with GDPR. See the full privacy notice here.

Also, heads of Maths will be asked to complete three short, online surveys over the course of the two-year pilot and 24 institutions will be asked to take part in one telephone interview.

Lastly, institutions will be required to submit short interim self-reports to the DfE on how they are spending the extra funding.

Will my institution be identified?

No individual institution or student will be identified in any report arising from the research.

When will I be able to see the results of the pilot?

A report on the findings of the evaluation will be published in Spring 2021.

Is every 16-18 year-old in the institution with less than a Grade 4 in maths eligible for the additional funding?

All students enrolled on a 16 to 19 study programme for the first time without prior attainment of a GCSE grade 4 or above for the 2018/2019 academic year cohort are eligible for this pilot.

We are assuming ALL students with prior attainment less than grade 4 are eligible, including existing continuing students – could you confirm?

No. Only students enrolled on a 16 to 19 study programme for the first time without prior attainment of a GCSE grade 4 or above for the 2018 to 2019 academic year cohort are eligible for this pilot.

How exactly and when will you collect the information on eligible numbers?

The information on eligible numbers will be collected through existing data reporting processes related to the condition of funding. DfE will confirm the cut-off date for identifying the eligible students.

Will students with prior attainment of a grade 2 or below in GCSE maths be required to achieve a grade 4 or above in GCSE maths, or a Functional Skills Level 2 in maths, or will we just need to show that they’ve made progress in Maths?

The definition of achievement for the purpose of the pilot closely aligns to the condition of funding policy:

• students with prior attainment of a grade 3 in GCSE maths need to achieve a grade 4 or above in GCSE maths
• students with prior attainment of a grade 2 or below in GCSE maths need to achieve a grade 4 or above in GCSE maths, or a Functional Skills Level 2 in maths

With regards to the Functional Skills Level 2: is this solely the Edexcel or AQA Functional Skills qualifications, or are there other qualifications that would fit this criteria?

Qualifications that meet the condition of funding have a record in the Learning Aim Reference Service (LARS) database that sets out how long they are valid for.

Can you also clarify if there are any restrictions on how we spend this pilot funding (i.e. are there any restrictions on capital investment in facilities such as IT, systems, physical spaces or teaching materials)?

We expect you to use the additional funding or incentive of additional funding to improve the outcomes of low attaining maths students. Institutions will have flexibility over how to spend the additional funding. You should only use programmes and approaches that are known to be effective. For further information, please visit the gov.uk website.

Can we be considered for another funding approach than the one we’ve been allocated?

Institutions have been randomly allocated to a funding model. Testing a range of approaches is important in ensuring that the evidence from this programme of pilots can lead to best supporting the wider post-16 cohort to gain a good level of basic skills.

How much money will be allocated per student for institutions that are receiving 100% of the additional funds up-front?

Institutions allocated to this group will receive £500 per eligible student.

What is the timescale for the payment of 100% up-front additional funding?

The payment will be made by the ESFA in academic year 2018 to 2019. The exact timing will be confirmed in due course.

Are there any 'clawback' conditions for institutions that are allocated 100% of the additional funding upfront?

There will be no clawback of funding.

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 50% of the additional funding will be paid up-front and 50% per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. How much money will be received per successful candidate by summer 2020?

Institutions allocated to this group will receive £250 upfront per eligible student (to be paid by the ESFA in academic year 2018/2019) and £250 per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020 (to be paid by the ESFA in academic year 2020/2021).

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 50% of the additional funding will be paid up-front and 50% per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. When will the first allocation of money be distributed?

Institutions allocated to this group will receive 50% of the additional funding up-front per each eligible student and 50% of the additional funding per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. The up-front payment will be made by the ESFA in academic year 2018/2019. The remaining payment will be made in academic year 2020/2021. The exact timing will be confirmed in due course.

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 50% of the additional funding will be paid up-front and 50% per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. Will there be a second allocation of money in 2019/20, or will it be paid after students achieve in maths in summer 2020? 

No allocation of money will be made in 2019/2020. Institutions allocated to this group will receive 50% of the additional funding upfront per each eligible student and 50% of the additional funding per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. The upfront payment will be made by the ESFA in academic year 2018/2019. The remaining payment will be made in academic year 2020/2021.

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 100% of the additional funding will be paid per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. How much money will be received per successful candidate?

Institutions allocated to this group will receive £500 per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. This payment will be made by the ESFA in academic year 2020/2021.

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 100% of the additional funding will be paid per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. Will this money be paid for learners who achieve in maths in 2019 and 2020?

Yes. This money will be paid for learners who achieve maths in 2019 and 2020 (by summer 2020).

We’ve been allocated the funding approach where 100% of the additional funding will be paid per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020.  Does this mean that any extra funding will only be received after successful completion in 2020?

Yes. Institutions allocated to group this group will be paid 100% of the additional funding per student who achieves in maths by summer 2020. The payment will be made by the ESFA in academic year 2020/2021. The exact timing will be confirmed in due course.

Who do I contact if I have questions?

If you have any questions about the evaluation, please contact NatCen on mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk, or leave a message on 0800 652 0401 and we will call you back.

If you have further queries about the funding, please contact: basicskills.premium@education.gov.uk

Find out more

For anything not covered on here, please call 0800 652 0401 or email mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. One our staff will get back to you to answer your query as soon as possible.