Maths and the UK: an uneasy tale

 

In March of 2020, I was very fortunate to have published an article about my enthusiasm for using the wild to learn about maths. It reflected a development of ideas and thoughts I'd had about how many children and adults in our society struggle with maths, and what practical and cheap ways could be used to help counter this. Through studying for a level 5 Diploma for teaching Maths in the Lifelong Learning Sector in 2010, I had realised just how immense the problem was of of the British public's uneasy relationship with maths. I was saddened to hear the rallying cry of 'It's ok to be bad at maths' through the laughs of many people. 

Unfortunately, just as the article was published, lockdown 1 hit, so I do wonder how many people actually had the time to read the article before it was tidied away after having lay dormant on a desk for some months. However, for those who missed the experience, here is now the serialisation of the article over the next few posts.

Give a child a handful of conkers, pebbles or sticks: what would they do with them? Some budding scientists may end up doing an experiment, perhaps testing the speed and velocity of objects flying through the air and revelling in the parabolic distance travelled before the inevitable impact. But chances are that they will start to play with them, perhaps creating pictures or making patterns and lines, probably counting how many they have and estimating how many they still need to complete their task. At this point, their brain builds connections between physical objects and number, helping them to ‘see’ numbers. 

It is this understanding of what numbers physically are that will help children towards constructing a solid understanding of how numbers work and interact with each other. From there, the journey into our decimal system, how it can be represented pictorially and abstractly, is carved and ultimately supports the teaching and learning within science too. 

Barriers to a numerate society – parallels with perceptions of science

When used purposefully, manipulatives (physical objects used to teach maths) and representations (such as number lines and graphs) can be ‘powerful tools for supporting pupils to engage with mathematical ideas’ (EEF, 2019). This is not a new idea by any means, especially within the early years and early key stage settings, but it is experiencing a resurgence in many schools with the development of maths mastery practice, backed by research such as that described in the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) report (2017). 

The vital need for children, and adults, to understand maths is often highlighted. In 2019, 79% of 11-year olds in England attained the expected standard in maths in their key stage 2 SATs (DfE, 2019), 71.5% of 16-yearolds achieved grade 4 or higher in their GCSEs (Ofqual, 2019), but, for all ages, UK wide, only 59.6% achieved grade 4 or higher in their GCSEs (FFT, 2019). In a report led by KPMG (National Numeracy, 2017), it was estimated that 17 million adults (half of the working age population) had numeracy skills below those expected at primary age, estimated to cost the UK economy £20 billion per year. In addition, there is a significant impact on people’s wages, health, social and mental wellbeing and potential involvement with crime, affecting an estimated 1 in 2 of young people from low-income households (EEF, 2017). 

Despite this, how often is the badge of honour of ‘I’m no good at maths’ said almost proudly by those who think that they have no natural ability to do maths? We know, of course, that everybody can do maths – Devlin (2001) argues clearly that there is no ‘maths gene’ – and there is no difference between boys and girls. A report by Callan (2015) discusses the ‘fear factor’ of maths among girls and women: there are no biological differences between boys and girls in their maths potential but there are major cultural barriers to overcome. The task of turning the barge of perceived maths ability is colossal, if not to appreciate maths itself, but to be able to use the numeracy skills so vital for functioning effectively within our society. These arguments and impacts reflect those heard about perceptions of science and the need for a scientifically literate population. 

In the next post, I explain why I begun to think about why using resources from the wild could be an effective way of helping to learn mathematical concepts.