Frequently Asked Questions

Resource samples are available on the Programs page of our website.

Beyond Foundation Year, each year of the EMP  is designed with assumed baseline skills. However, for a variety of reasons, some students or classes may not be operating at grade level. Therefore, and to maximise opportunities for success for all students, we offer Bridging Courses at Years 1 and 2. 

The Bridging Course for Year 1 covers essential Foundation level skills, including but not limited to reading and writing numbers to 10, comparing numbers to 10 and counting on. The Bridging Course for Year 2 includes reading and writing 2-digit numbers, addition and subtraction facts to 20 and skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.

We provide a quick assessment that is carried out early in the year to allow teachers to determine whether a Bridging Course is required.  

The EMP has been used with a variety of students with additional needs in both a whole class setting and small group intervention. 

In a whole class setting, students with additional needs can be provided with additional scaffolds like a number line or hundreds chart. Independent practice is a key component of the EMP lesson structure and during this time teachers can provide individualised support to students. 

We have also developed remediation programs for students who cannot engage in Fluency Practice. For example, if a student cannot engage in the Fluency Practice Program in Foundation or the first half of Year 1 (ie. If during the timed practice they struggle to commence work, have lots of incorrect answers, or are unable to have success when offered support) students are then directed to a simpler program in place of the written fluency practice. This simpler program involves copying complete facts to allow for error-free learning. This program will focus on facts to 10 and addition only.

Additionally, from half way through Year 1, you will be provided with timed assessments to identify students who are not developing the required 40 digits correct per minute fluency for facts. Similar to the Foundation Year program, students will copy facts, however there is a greater focus on recall, and both addition and subtraction facts, this time to 20 will be included.

When using the EMP for Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 intervention, the pace and levels of support can be easily adjusted to meet the needs of diverse learners. Our simple routines and repeated practice enable students to have a high level of success. 

In summary, the EMP is taking a structured and systematic approach to supporting teachers to identify students who are struggling, and to target appropriate adaptations to their needs. This will continue to be an ongoing focus for the EMP.

Yes, simply select the ‘Pay via Invoice’ option at checkout. 

All trials to date have been run in single year level classes, with composite class trials scheduled for 2025. 

However, you are very welcome to utilise the EMP within composite classes. If you would like to try this, please read on. 

If you are teaching a F-1 class, (with the exception of NSW*) either of our Foundation and Year 1 courses could be run with the whole class. We suggest that you review the scopes and sequences on our Programs page, and select which resources are most appropriate given your students. 

If you are using our Foundation Year resources with Year 1 students within a F-1 composite, you will still cover the majority of the Year 1 curriculum. This is possible due to the structured approach of the EMP that allows content to be covered more efficiently. 

If a full coverage of the Year 1 curriculum is required, we suggest using our Grade 1 program with your F-1 class. The Year 1 Program does assume knowledge of the numbers to 10 (reading and writing) however we do provide a 20 Lesson Bridging Course to cover these skills.

Note that the same advice applies to a teacher of a Year 1-2 Composite. If teaching a 2-3 Composite, currently the only option would be to utilise our Year 2 Program. However, as stated above, this is a comprehensive course with the majority of the Year 3 curriculum contained within it.

*The NSW curriculum is significantly more advanced than other states and territories. If using the EMP with a composite class, you will need to use the course for the higher grade to cover the curriculum (eg. If teaching an F-1 composite, NSW schools should use our Grade 1 course).

To summarise, EMP has not as yet been trialled in composite classes, but we believe that with a review of the scopes and sequences, and careful selection, it could be successfully used in composite classes. 

The EMP roadmap includes expansion up to Year 6. At a minimum, this includes  the release of Year 3 in 2026, Year 4 in 2027, Year 5 in 2028, Year 6 in 2029. In short, any student who begins the EMP program in 2025 will be able to continue with the program for the entirety of their time at primary school.

The full webinar can be viewed here.

The EMP has been designed and written from the ground up to provide effective Tier 1 instruction (i.e., whole class teaching) for all learners.* Concepts and skills are introduced sequentially and reviewed regularly, providing learners with the opportunity to consolidate their learning throughout the program. Every lesson includes a gradual release of responsibility, allowing teachers to gently pull back on scaffolds as students demonstrate mastery. Lessons also provide teachers with the opportunity to work closely with students requiring additional support if required.

Extension questions are present in most lessons to allow higher-achieving students the chance to push themselves with more challenging content.

*Though it can also be used for Tier 2 and 3 intervention, and has been done so successfully.

The EMP is based upon all curricula relevant throughout Australia. That is to say, we have taken all content descriptors from every state and territory, in addition to the Australian curriculum, and embedded all required skills within the EMP. The way that you specifically report to the curriculum that you are using is through our Assessment spreadsheet. For a demonstration of this, see 11 minutes and 50 seconds within the demo video on our Programs page, where you will also find scopes and sequences.

Yes, developmentally and contextually appropriate hands-on activities are included throughout the program

Yes, the EMP teaches students a highly structured method for solving word problems informed by the work of Dr. Sarah Powell. 

The following episode of the Knowledge for Teachers podcast with Brendan Lee is a great primer for anyone interested in learning more about this approach:
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-n9uz3-15bdfcb

At present, the main PD for the EMP is embedded within the Teacher Lesson Book. That is, the EMP comes with a full guide for schools regarding how to prepare your teachers to teach the EMP effectively within three hours of  self-paced PD. We will offer live and online PD in future. If you have ever completed our contact form, you will be notified of upcoming PD opportunities. 

All physical EMP resources (books) for the 2025 school year will be delivered at the beginning of 2025. During the ordering process, you will specify a Delivery start date. This is the earliest date in 2025 that your school office will be open for deliveries. Your EMP resources for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) will be delivered on or shortly after your specified delivery start date (max of 5 days) [Student Workbook 1, Teacher Lesson Book 1, Assessment Book part 1]

Resources for Semester 2 (Terms 3 and 4) will be delivered in early June (delivery at no additional cost) [Student Workbook 2, Teacher Lesson Book 2, Assessment Book part 2]

To enable you to prepare; by mid-november, 2024, all schools who purchase the EMP will be given access to electronic resources for the first 5 weeks of the program. This includes our Teacher Implementation guide, which includes materials for 3 hours of self-paced Professional Learning to prepare teachers to successfully implement the program with their classes.  

In addition to the books provided by the EMP, here is an indicative list of resources you will need from Foundation Year to Grade 2. We will send a detailed list with sufficient time for ordering.

Classroom Resources

• Classroom whiteboard
• Visualiser/Document Camera (We suggest the iPevo v4k, but you can also find guides online for how to use iphones, ipads, or other devices as document cameras, such as this video)
• 1 x mini whiteboard, whiteboard marker and eraser per student

Manipulatives

• 1 x 0-9 numbered dice per pair of students (plus 1 for teacher)
• 1 x 6-sided dot dice per pair of students (plus 1 for teacher)
• 20 x counters per student (2 sets of 10 in two different colours if possible, plus teacher set)
• 20 x magnetic counters per teacher (2 sets of 10 in two different colours if possible)
• 2 x laminated ten frames per teacher (Template can be found in Lesson 8A of Student Workbook)
• 100 x bundling sticks per student (plus teacher set)
• 10 x bundling stick bands per student (plus teacher set)
• 20 x interlocking blocks per student (plus teacher set)
• Plastic money (coins and notes)
• Laminated number line (0-20) per student. PDF will be supplied. Download PDF here

Resources for Optional Activities and MSSP Lessons

The EMP includes outlines for lessons in the Measurement, Space, Statistics, and Probability substrands. A full list of resources needed to teach these sessions will be provided shortly.

The EMP has been specifically designed to address gaps found in other existing programs. In light of this, the EMP is the only program that has all required components for delivery, including lessons, daily reviews, both formative and summative assessments, mapping to all State and Territory curricula, and in-built implementation guides. Other programs offer some of these elements, but not in the same coordinated package. Further, it is our belief that the quality and consistency of the EMP far exceeds that of the competitors due to the nature of how it has been created, by a small and dedicated team of true subject experts. 

Yes! Simply order the relevant resources (teacher lesson books and student workbooks) and the program is completely usable for a single teacher with a small or large class of students, or for a parent with their child or children.

The costs for the Assessment Book, Teacher Lesson Book and Student Workbook can be found on our Orders page. 

Note that the cost of the Teacher Lesson Book includes access to the Daily Review Slides.

To date, every school who has used the Explicit Mathematics Program has found it to be an excellent fit. However, if you still have questions and queries after watching the video on our Programs page, and reviewing this Q&A page, we would love for you to book into an EMP demo call here (places limited to the first 4 schools in each time slot)