The government hopes to launch an “evidence-based” maths programme to improve numeracy outcomes for children in early years settings.
A Department for Education tender shows it is seeking organisations interested in bidding for a contract to deliver the programme “to at least 5,000 settings”. The £5.4 million contract is due to run for three years and five months, from April 2026 to August 2029.
The tender notice says: “Early maths skills are strongly linked to later academic achievement and workforce success, yet many children begin school without the expected level of development in maths.
“Despite its importance within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), maths remains one of the lowest-performing areas, partly due to limited training and confidence among educators.”
The notice says the programme must be “backed by robust evaluation”.
Beth Silver, chief executive of early years maths charity Number Champions, described the initiative as “good news”.
“We know from our experience how, by the age of seven or eight, children can not only fall behind, but then get left behind, due to the cumulative nature of the maths curriculum,” she said.
“Lack of self-belief with numbers holds children back and often persists into adulthood. We would therefore urge the DfE to include improvement in confidence as an important measure of effectiveness.”
An Education Endowment Fund (EEF) study of Maths Champions in 2021 explored the impact early years interventions can have on maths attainment. It found children in nurseries that received the charity’s interventions made three months’ additional progress in maths, compared to those at other nurseries.
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