Numeracy through Problem Solving (NTPS) was developed to meet a concern that many students see school mathematics as irrelevant to their present or future lives - except as "something we have to take". NTPS provides curriculum and assessment components:

Five modules on practical problems:

• Be a Shrewd Chooser - on making better consumer decisions
• Plan a Trip - for the whole class out of school
• Produce a Game Show - design and put on a TV quiz
• Design a Board Game - for the class to play
• Be a Paper Engineer - designing pop-up cards and boxes

Each module provides learning and teaching materials, with embedded and external assessment.

• Students work in small groups over three weeks per module. Each module has real outcomes, with the class evaluating other groups' products.
• Individual embedded assessment tasks test each student's understanding of the ongoing work. External examinations assess their ability to transfer what they have learned to more or less similar problem contexts.
• Students see the work as relevant to their current and future lives. Most are motivated to take more responsibility for the quality of their own and their group's work.
• Teachers learn to handle classroom discussion of mathematics in a non-directive way.