What can be done to improve attitudes towards maths in primary education?

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National Numeracy (2013) state in a research paper that “Negative attitudes, rather than a lack of innate talent, are at the root of our numeracy crisis”. Within Britain people have a negative attitude towards maths. During this blog, I will be discussing what we can do in the future to prevent negativity during Maths.

One of the biggest impacts of negativity towards maths can come from ability grouping. Research has shown that grouping pupils by ability can lead towards negative attitudes towards school and school work, mostly shown in maths lessons (BBC,1999) also in reference to this Professor Kim Beswick a professor in education of Mathematics (2017), states that grouping children into ability groups can start kids off at the wrong foot and set them up for failure within mathematics.

  Andreas Schleichder (2013) states in a OECD survey that “good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health” so as practioners its important to enforce a good positive attitude towards maths from early years to enforce encouragement to get the best ability out of everyone. Parents can also have a negative impact on a child’s mind set for maths, this can turn a maths lesson to negativity, because it can children loose interest and not have much encouragement to get the best out of maths.

Negative attitudes towards maths begin early within the UK, as early as some ages of 7-9, this is when many children’s interest and attainment dip, in most cases never return (Jones,2012). Wales, England and Northern Ireland have the lowest rate of young people continuing with maths passed the age of 16. In comparison to the UK, Singapore are the top in global comparison of mathematical ability and have one of the most admired education structures, Governments around the world have tried to incorporate elements of the ‘Singapore model’ into their own approach, in comparison to this England have adopted the Singapore style of teaching mathematics (Vasagar,2016).

So, what is the best practice to get rid of the stigma with mathematics? 

Professor Graham Donaldson (2015) states within his review that thematic approaches can be highly effective way of learning through schools. This approach can even give a positive impact towards maths especially. If thematic approaches are implemented with maths from early years this would have a positive impact with children’s` mental ability and work ethos with maths. After researching this broad subject, it was noticeable that all the research about teaching and learning mathematics had a connection with Donaldson’s new curriculum, with Donaldson’s purposes and policies in place, it goes in to practice with many research papers and learning outcomes for Maths.

In Scotland improving Confidence and influence within maths is prioritised within they’re learning and teaching. ‘Creating greater enthusiasm and raising attainment’ is there key priority to improve positivity within maths. Within Scotland’s governmental policy, exploring what can be done in maths to raise positivity is to encourage schools and nurseries to use a wide range of effective learning approaches to develop high expectations, confidence and resilience in maths (Scot Gov,2012).
From personal experience, I never felt confidence in maths, I remember teachers asking me questions in front of my whole class and the fright of me getting it wrong would scare me. I think that was where the negativity stemmed from with lack of confidence and lack of encouragement. My confidence then put me in a lower ability maths class that lowered my self-esteem and I believed I couldn’t do maths. If Teachers don’t encourage and put people’s confidence to advantage this is where the maths crisis is coming from, the importance to having a good stable relationship with maths would encourage a lot more people to feel confident.

Reference’s –

Andreas Schliechder OECD, (2012). PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills 2012. [online] Available at: http://piaacdataexplorer.oecd.org/ide/idepiaac/
BBC(1999). BBC News | EDUCATION | Ability grouping 'could harm self-esteem'. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/545053.stm.

Beswick, K. (2017). Shedding the maths stigma. [online] The University of Tasmania. Available at: http://www.utas.edu.au/news/2017/8/3/367-shedding-the-maths-stigma/.

Jones, W. (2012). Bad attitudes to maths makes children switch off. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/mar/07/world-maths-day-adult-innumeracy.

Nationalnumeracyuk (2013). [online] Available at:https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/sites/default/files/attitudes_towards_maths_-_updated_branding.pdf

Gov.scot. (2012). Transforming Scotland into a maths positive nation: final report of the Making Maths Count group - gov.scot. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/transforming-scotland-maths-positive-nation-final-report-making-maths-count/pages/4/.

Vasagar, J. (2016). Why Singapore’s kids are so good at maths | Financial Times. [online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/2e4c61f2-4ec8-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc.