An agency funded by the government to support and improve maths teaching has been accused of using its position to “unfairly” promote the children’s television show Numberblocks.
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) website contains resources that can be used alongside episodes of the programme to teach maths to young children.
Previously, NCETM has also pointed parents to Numberblocks DVDs available from online retailers.
Its website praises the show’s “snappy animation” and “loveable characters” and says these are combined with “engaging storylines to gently introduce concepts of number to support early mathematical understanding”.
The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), which represents over 300 suppliers, has written to the Department for Education and NCETM, complaining that the resources are being promoted without proper processes being followed. It also said it was concerned that teachers and parents were being directed to buy extra resources.
However, this has been firmly denied by NCETM, which is funded by the DfE but run by a private education company called Tribal.
The maths organisation said there is “no commercial element” to the resources and that it is “simply trying to help teachers and parents to support the mathematical learning of young children”. It has removed the reference to the DVDs from its site.
Numberblocks, which first aired in 2017, is a CBeebies show aimed at introducing pre-schoolers to numbers.
BESA first wrote to the DfE and NCETM on 1 December last year, saying it was “concerned that the NCETM is unfairly promoting the resources created by Numberblocks without having followed government procurement and selection processes”.
The letter added: “We are further concerned that the NCETM directs parents and teachers to purchase additional Numberblocks resources from external commercial websites.”
BESA says it did not receive a response for a number of weeks, though the references to DVDs were removed from the site.
‘No commercial element’
After Tes contacted NCETM about the letter this week, it said that the programmes, and its own support materials, help children develop early learning of number “in a way that is fully aligned with the teaching for mastery pedagogy in maths that is supported by the NCETM for pupils from Year 1 upwards”.
It added that there was “no commercial element” to the references and that it was “simply trying to help teachers and parents to support the mathematical learning of young children”.
And it said that the reference to buying DVDs was put on the website when some of the Numberblocks programmes were not on BBC iPlayer, and that it had initially forgotten to remove these when they became universally available.
Tes also flagged that NCETM’s director for primary, Debbie Morgan, is an adviser to the makers of Numberblocks programmes. NCETM said that this “ensures the programmes are mathematically and pedagogically sound, which benefits the children who watch them”.
However, BESA is unhappy with NCETM’s response.
BESA’s director-general, Caroline Wright, told Tes: “We’re in no way critical of Numberblocks as a resource, but they are being promoted heavily on the NCETM website. Lots of providers could have provided a similar service, free or not.
“Our issue is as a principle, there is a process that should be followed. None of our members has seen any kind of competitive tender. There are lots of providers that would love to work with NCETM to make sure their resources were being recommended for schools. So why is NCETM working with one and not all?”
She added that even if the direct resources linked to by NCETM are free, they could still give Numberblocks a commercial advantage, saying: “NCETM is a government agency, it has the power of reaching teachers and influencing teaching decisions and purchasing decisions.
“Lots of teachers will follow NCETM, so by promoting a particular individual provider and not another, they are giving them priority. Teachers might use the free Numberblocks resources and then might buy something else to help support because children understand and know Numberblocks.”
Tes contacted the Department for Education for comment but did not receive a response.
