Why some pupils have the odds stacked against them
The current maths GCSE supports around half of pupils very well – specifically, those who have already mastered the foundations and may even continue with maths through to A Level. But it doesn’t serve the other half as well, those who are not necessarily sufficiently secure with the foundations, and who then get left behind as more abstract concepts are built upon shaky foundations.
We would say that the current maths GCSE promotes excellence for some, rather than building confidence and competence for all. We’d love the new government to begin the process of addressing this – making sure that every single young person has the firm foundations – the maths that we are going to need throughout our lives – in place.
At National Numeracy, we believe that it should be a basic expectation that every young person leaves school with the maths skills and confidence they need to get on in life and the belief that, however they got on, they can always come back to it and improve.
The current maths GCSE compares an individual's performance with others in their year, but one analogy that's sometimes used to challenge this is learning to play an instrument. There is a set level of competence we need to achieve a piano grade or to learn a certain song, as with maths, it doesn't necessarily matter whether other people are better than you, what matters is that you can use your skills well enough to get the result you want.
Maths education should prepare every young person with the skills and confidence they need throughout their lives. We believe that the current system compounds the attainment gap and embeds educational and regional inequality.
We are here to help
Our 'cradle to career' vision aims to bridge this gap by promoting real-life numeracy from nursery through to adulthood. Improving numeracy demands a cultural shift, focusing on both adults and children, as confident adults inspire confident children. A generational shift towards number confidence is crucial for lasting change.
We are working with schools, employers and with governments across the UK. We are using what we have learned about the importance of confidence when it comes to improving numeracy to challenge a culture that can sometimes be so negative towards maths.
Find out more about our work and impact
For individuals, we provide the National Numeracy Challenge. It's a free website used by over 500,000 adults to strengthen the skills and confidence they need to use numbers in daily life. So, regardless of qualifications, the Challenge can help you improve your numeracy for work, help your family at home or better manage your money.
