In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers podcast, I speak with Amy Haywood and Nick Parkinson, co-authors of the Grattan Institute’s Maths Guarantee report. We unpack what they describe as Australia’s “national problem” with maths underperformance — from the equity gaps to the urgent need for high-quality curriculum materials and teacher support.

Amy and Nick share key findings from their research, including a national teacher survey and international case studies, as well as practical insights from some of Australia’s most effective schools. We dive deep into what explicit instruction really looks like, the power of fluency, and how the instructional hierarchy can help teachers better sequence their maths lessons.

Whether you're a school leader, instructional coach, or passionate teacher, this conversation will leave you with clarity, evidence, and next steps to improve maths teaching in your school.

Resources mentioned:

The schools they visited for case studies were:

The final three schools are part of the Explicit and Systematic Teaching (EAST) network, a grassroots network which exists to champion explicit teaching in NSW government schools

You can connect with Amy:

Twitter/X: @Amy_L_Haywood

You can connect with Nick:

Twitter/X: @NickJParkinson

You can connect with Brendan:

Twitter/X: @learnwithmrlee

Facebook: @learningwithmrlee

Website: learnwithlee.net

Amy Haywood

Amy Haywood is the Deputy Program Director of Grattan’s Education Program. Amy has a background as an educator and brings this practical experience to her work as an education policy researcher. She is the co-author of several Grattan reports, including Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools, The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance of success, Spreading success: Why Australia should trial multi-school organisations, and The Maths Guarantee: How to boost students’ learning in primary schools.

Amy taught English in secondary schools for five years. During this time, she presented at statewide teaching conferences and wrote several study guides for Macmillan Education. Before joining Grattan, Amy worked as a manager in Deloitte Access Economics’ Education Policy team, where she led schooling projects focused on system design, workforce reform, and teaching practice.

Amy has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Teaching from the University of Melbourne. As part of her postgraduate degree, she studied international education policy while on exchange at the University of Oulo in Finland. She is a registered teacher.

Nick Parkinson

Nick is a Senior Associate in Grattan’s Education Program, where he has co-authored reports on whole-school curriculum, multi-school organisation, and primary maths. He also contributed to reports on catch-up tutoring and early reading. Through this research, Nick has conducted case studies of nearly 30 leading schools and analysed more than 5,000 teacher survey results.

Nick holds a Master of Teaching from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Before studying teaching, Nick completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Languages at the University of Melbourne. He is a 2022 Westpac Future Leader.

Before joining Grattan, Nick worked as a consultant at Nous Group where he contributed to projects on school culture, student assessment, and occupational safety.

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