Exploring the role confidence plays in number skill

Webinar on number confidence and social mobility

To coincide with the new research briefing, National Numeracy hosted a webinar called Number Confidence and Social Mobility on 1 November where a panel discussed the report’s findings, looked in detail at the data, answered questions from participants, and suggested what could be done to address the issues raised.

What the panel said:

Bobby Seagull, Maths teacher, television presenter, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers and National Numeracy Ambassador, said: “If you work in an institution or organisation, it’s trying to create a culture or environment where people feel comfortable saying: ‘Actually, I need a bit of help with my maths,’ and it not being seen as a stigma… It’s in our best interests to allow people to feel open about talking about it because then we can uplift all our workforces.”

Anne Okafor, Chartered Construction Manager, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Construction Ambassador, STEM Ambassador and National Numeracy Champion, said: “I think we often think of maths as either you can or you can’t, we think of it as an innate ability – either: ‘You are a maths person’ or ‘You’re not a maths person’. So when people have that: ‘I’m not a maths person’, you don’t try anymore…I think language, attitudes and understanding would be where I’d want to focus.”

Sam Sims, CEO, National Numeracy, said: “We know now the role that confidence plays, so how can employers support people to build their confidence as a precursor to or alongside starting to develop their skills? Often we leap straight to the skills solution, which people might not be ready for, particularly if they’ve had a bad experience to date, so it’s something we’re very passionate about pursuing at National Numeracy.”

Paul Foss, Head of Impact and Evaluation, National Numeracy, said: “We promote the use of the National Numeracy Challenge as almost like an MOT, something you do very regularly, a health check you come back to time and again, but it was pleasantly surprising to find that’s generally how people were using it… The National Numeracy Challenge was playing that essential role of filling in that area of confidence and growth mindset and really helping people along their journey.”