text: The Mastery Learning Model has been researched and implemented in various forms across North America for over 30 years.  It is good model.  But as with any model of teaching it requires a great deal of work by teachers who will diligently follow its precepts.  However, it appears that there are many other factors in the Shanghai system which suggest that transposing these methods to British classrooms will have the same mediocre impact that the model has had in North American schools.  The North American experience has been plagued by a lack of mathematical background by teachers, inadequate provisions for cooperative planning among teachers and lacklustre adherence to the principles which undergird the model.