About Mr Barton
Please note: you can find a much shorter bio (and photo) at
the bottom of my CPD
page.
I have been a maths teacher since 2004, working at Range High School in Formby, and Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton. Four years into my career I was appointed as an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST), which was a role I loved. It enabled me to focus all my attention into teaching and learning, having the privilege to work with and learn from many students and teachers in a wide variety of schools. I took a break from regular teaching in 2019 to focus on my other work.
I am the co-creator of Diagnostic Questions. This is a free website hosting the world's largest collection of high-quality maths diagnostic multiple choice questions, and helps teachers and students all around the world identify, understand and resolve key misconceptions.
I am the Head of Education at Eedi. This is the company that I co-founded that now owns Diagnostic Questions, and I am very excited about our future plans for improving teaching and learning world wide.
For 10 years I was the Secondary Maths Adviser to TES (formerly the Times Educational Supplement), the largest professional network of teachers in the world. The role involves curating and reviewing some of the amazing resources written by generous and talented maths teachers all over the world, as well as writing newsletters, and building collections. You can see some of my work here.
Since building mrbartonmaths.com in 2007, my website has been used by millions of teachers, students and parents across the world. In 2016 I gave it a much needed make-over, introducing my Topics and Rich Task sections.
I am the creator of far too many websites, including variationtheory.com, ssddproblems.com, DQaDay.com and mathsvenns.com.
I launched my Mr Barton Maths Podcast in 2015, allowing me to talk to people from the world of education who interest and inspire me, including Dylan Wiliam, Doug Lemov, Daisy Christodoulou and Dan Meyer.
My book, "How I wish I'd taught maths: Lessons learned from research, conversations with experts and 12 years of mistakes" came out in January 2018. It is published by John Catt Education Ltd, and can be bought via Amazon or directly from John Catt.
In February 2020 I released my second book, "Reflect, Expect, Check, Explain: sequences and behaviour to enable mathematical thinking in the classroom". This can be bought via Amazon or directly from John Catt.
In February 2020 I was also appointed a Visiting Fellow at the Mathematics Education Centre at the University of Loughborough.
In 2022 I started my Tips for Teachers project, which led to a website and podcast, and eventually my third book, Tips for Teachers.
I regularly run workshops, deliver keynote addresses, and work with maths departments both in the UK and overseas. For more information on this, please see the CPD section.
Most importantly of all, I am married to Kate and the father of
Isaac and Jacob.