Changing attitudes towards maths

By: admin

Tuesday 18 March 2014

0 Comment

The Welsh government have suggested that parents need to change their negative attitude towards mathematics in order to encourage their children to not only pursue the subject, but to realise its true value and ensure they excel in it.

A poll commissioned by the Welsh government showed that 29% of parents admitted to making negative comments about maths in front of their children, such as “don’t ask me to do maths, I’m rubbish at it.”

Huw Lewis, Education Minister for Wales, said “we need to change the image of maths and this begins at home. It's fair to say that maths is suffering from an image problem, and as [this] poll demonstrates, there is still work to do to change the view in some quarters which is that maths isn't really important and that it doesn't really matter what we say to children about it.”

He added, "we understand the value of strong numeracy skills, for life and for employment.”

The importance of basic numeracy skills cannot be ignored, with reports showing that those with a poor ability in maths are twice as likely to be unemployed.

Basic skills in English and maths in England have been under scrutiny since the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) published their October report showing England’s 16-24 year olds ranked 22nd (literacy) and 21st (numeracy) out of 24 countries surveyed.

At NCFE we believe that these skills must be taught in the right way from a young age, which is why our 130 fundable English and maths qualifications, including single-unit qualifications and certificates, are ideal for using alongside your school’s curriculum before your learners reach GCSE level. These specialist qualifications allow learners to focus on the areas they feel they need the most help in, meaning the learning is tailored to their individual needs. Find out more about our maths and English qualifications.

What do you think? How can we make maths a more engaging and exciting prospect?

Tags:

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

Communications Leader
96 posts
David Grailey

Chief Executive
79 posts
Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Policy Leader
75 posts
Esme Winch

Managing Director
35 posts
Michael Lemin

Policy and Research Manager
25 posts

Schools

Colleges

Training Providers

Employers

Learners

NCFE is a national Awarding Organisation

Join the debate