For many years, discussions about equity in mathematics have focused on closing attainment gaps, increasing participation and ensuring access to a high-quality curriculum. But another equity issue has been hiding in plain sight: factual fluency. Debates about fluency can become polarised, with some advocating automatic recall of key facts and others championing reasoning and conceptual understanding. This is a false dichotomy. The question is not whether children need factual fluency or the ability to reason. They need both. More importantly, every child has a right to both. The growing interest in “phonics for maths” has opened a conversation about the foundational knowledge children need to succeed. As with phonics in reading, the principle is not about reducing learning to memorisation. Rather, it is about systematically teaching the building blocks for future learning. In mathematics, this means developing secure number sense, fluency with key facts and procedures and the ability to reason flexibly about mathematical relationships. At first glance, this may appear to be a discussion about standards. I would argue it is equally a discussion about equity. Mel Ainscow’s work on inclusive education suggests inclusion should be judged through three interconnected dimensions: presence, participation and achievement. Making progress Equity is not simply about whether pupils are in the classroom, but whether they can participate meaningfully and make progress over time. This lens is especially useful when considering factual fluency. A child may be present in a maths lesson, but if they still rely on counting strategies for basic facts while their peers engage in reasoning and problem-solving, their participation is constrained. Secure factual fluency reduces the cognitive effort required for calculation, freeing working memory for reasoning, discussion and problem-solving. This can be particularly important for pupils with SEND, disadvantaged learners and others who struggle in mathematics. When foundational knowledge is taught explicitly and in carefully sequenced small steps, more pupils can access the same ambitious mathematical thinking as their peers. Viewed through Ainscow’s framework, factual fluency is an inclusion strategy that supports equitable participation in mathematics. This is why the first principle of our Oxford University Press’s fluency and phonics for maths benchmarks states that every child has a right to core knowledge. We also recently heard from more than 70 schools that implemented our times-tables fluency programme (Number Sense Maths). Most schools reported consistent, year-on-year improvement with more than 50 per cent achieving full marks. Teachers particularly highlighted the positive impact of fluency teaching on pupils with additional support needs, with one teacher sharing how “children’s confidence has significantly improved. Thirty-one per cent of [the] class are on the SEND register”. Too often, equity in mathematics is discussed in terms of attainment gaps. Perhaps the more important question is participation. Who gets to explain, justify and make connections? Who gets to experience themselves as successful mathematicians? Access and entitlement When foundational facts are insecure, pupils can find themselves excluded from these opportunities. Factual fluency is therefore an issue of access and entitlement, giving pupils the knowledge and confidence needed to engage in richer mathematical thinking. However, factual fluency should never be taught through rote learning alone. Fluency develops through carefully sequenced teaching, meaningful practice, representations and manipulatives, alongside opportunities to reason about mathematical structures. Children need to understand how facts relate to one another, when and why they can be applied. In this way, factual fluency becomes the foundation upon which reasoning, problem-solving and mathematical creativity can flourish. Belonging is another aspect of equity that is often overlooked. Many children decide at a young age whether they see themselves as “maths people”. Repeated experiences of struggle can damage confidence and shape mathematical identity, while success builds success. Structured approaches to factual fluency, using small cumulative steps, consistent representations and frequent opportunities for success can help children experience progress and develop confidence that they can participate, contribute and achieve. This is equity not as remediation, but by design. Ultimately, factual fluency should not be viewed as a narrow curriculum objective. It is a means of widening access to mathematics itself. It enables participation, reduces barriers to learning and opens doors to future success. The debate around factual fluency will undoubtedly continue. Yet if there is one principle on which we can surely agree, it is that every child deserves access to the foundational knowledge that unlocks mathematical reasoning. Factual fluency is not merely a standards agenda. It is fundamentally an equity issue.