Inspiring people of all ages to see and use

numeracy as a life skill to enhance their personal

lives, as well as their employability

KILPIN ROOM

Lynn ChurchmanLead Consultant

Inspiring people of all ages to see and use numeracy as a life skill to enhance their personal

lives, as well as their employability

 ‘Inspiring people of all ages to see and use numeracy as a life skill to enhance their personal lives, as well as their employability’

A seminar on the work of the National Numeracy Campaign

Lynn Churchman, Founding Trustee 15th January 2014

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Introductions…………..

Who is involved in working in/with: Primary schools? Secondary schools? FE/post-16? Adult continuing education?

Who has......…..heard of National Numeracy?…..been on the website?…..worked with National Numeracy in any form?

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Session overview

What is the issue and why National Numeracy campaign?

Being numerate? What does this mean?

Engaging all learners and improving life chances: - changing attitudes: developing a positive ‘yes I can…..’ culture - challenging the ‘maths gene’ myth- the importance of ‘relevance’ and ‘reality’- the role of our National Numeracy Challenge

Discussion and questions

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Where we started?

April 2010 ‘Count me in’ report by New Philanthropy Capital into the state of numeracy in England concluded that:

• poor numeracy levels are reducing the life chances of millions of people. • a number of issues need to be tackled if numeracy is to be improved• these issues are not being adequately addressed.

The conclusion of the research was that this could best be achieved through a new organisation:

“ existing organisations (both government and charitable organisations) tend to focus on a specific aspect of numeracy, rather than the wider challenges of improving attitudes and promoting successful approaches. However, it is essential that a new organisation works closely with existing organisations”

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Achieve a measurable transformation of maths and numeracy in schoolnumeracy for adults

Transform public attitudes to maths and numeracy

Get rid of ‘I can’t do maths’ through practical

campaigns

For everyone, for life - move beyond

‘doing sums’ definition

Annual survey to monitor the shift

Bring an unrelenting spotlight

onto numeracy

Work as a hub to link organisations and

enable change

Promote pedagogical approaches that can transform outcomes

in school and for adults

Collate and disseminate all relevant research

Identify gaps and propose new action research

Develop consensus around ‘Essentials of numeracy

for all’

Build an informed view of effective approaches

Pilot projects to test potentially

transformational approaches

Scale up success

End state is incorporation

into central policy

VISION

ATTITUDES INFLUENCE EVIDENCE CAPABILITY

What we are about

Why do attitudes matter?

In the UK it is almost a badge of honour - across the social spectrum - for people to say ‘I’m no good at maths’.

Parents will freely admit to this to their children.

In contrast in many countries, particularly high-performing ones, saying ‘I can’t do maths’ is as unacceptable as saying ‘I can’t read’.

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Shining an unrelenting spotlighton the ‘numeracy’ issue

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Lots of data/evidence on our website including reports/papers

PISA 2013:The UK ranked 26th out of 65 countries for maths – and our performance is not improving despite:• Higher GDP than OECD

average • Higher education

spending• Higher University

participation

In 2012………42% of pupils in England failed to achieve and A*-C grade in GCSE mathematics

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78% of adults in England are

working below L2 (A*-C at GCSE)

17 million adults

working roughly at level expected of children at primary school

The numeracy landscape: England

PIAAC 2013 (Prog for International Assessment of Adult Competencies)

The impact of good numeracy

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Likelihood of Positive Social and Economic OutcomesAmong Highly Proficient Adults

od

ds r

atio

“good” to “excellent”

health

high levels of trust

participation in volunteer activities

high levels of political efficacy

high wagesbeing employed

Literacy

Numeracy

We need to engage with segments of society with low numeracy – the correlation between numeracy and life well-being is high.

‘Good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health’

Andreas Schleicher 2nd Dec 2013

Age cohort analysis – picked up by the media…

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"The talent pool of highly skilled adults in England and Northern Ireland is likely to shrink relative to that of other countries.“

OECD conclusion on results

England is the only country where the skills of 16-24 year olds are below those of the oldest cohort, the 55-65 year olds

Northern Ireland has maintained its position in international rankings while England has fallen.

Numeracy Skills by Age Group

‘Good Numeracy’ means….?

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Numeracy – often alternatively called ‘mathematical literacy’ – is a life skill.

It means having the confidence and competence to use numbers and other mathematical skills in everyday life.

It is the ability to reason with numbers, data and other mathematical concepts and to use and apply these in a range of contexts and to solve a variety of problems.

To be numerically literate, a person has to be comfortable with logic and reasoning and interpreting information.

For example………….

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Including Financial capability ……………

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Our Essentials of Numeracy

Being Numerate is knowing what to do with the tools…

…so that you can use quantitative information to make good decisions

Being numerate – it is more than knowledge…

- and financial decisions are among the most important to get right

Being numerate

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1. A challenge to the UK to:

Change attitudes (Re-) define ‘being numerate’ for life Improve numeracy levels of the 78%

below equivalent of ‘C’ at GCSE (based on ‘Essentials of Numeracy’)

2. A challenge to: Employers & UnionsAdult education bodiesCommunity organisations Individualsto work with us to effect this change.

3. An interactive website designed to:

assess an adult’s everyday maths skills provide a suite of learning which will improve their

skills and confidence and track their progress

The National Numeracy Challenge AIM – 1 million adults over next 5 years…

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The Challenge website

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Understand the value of

maths in everyday life.

Ability is not fixed.

Develop a ‘can-do’ attitude. Recognise that everyone

struggles in order to succeed - its part of the learning process.

Recognise the benefits of improving numeracy.

Attitudes and building ‘mathematical resilience’…

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The Challenge journey

Challenge Check-up Example

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Challenge Check-up Example

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The Challenge Online: a learning process

87% of users said they would recommend the Challenge to friends and family

88% of partners said the Challenge met or exceeded expectations

We learned that there is a real appetite for a website which is non-threatening and focuses on everyday maths skills:

The Challenge is now in post-pilot development ahead of: full launch on 12th March 2014

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“Fantastic way to understand where

you are with Maths”

“Very welcoming and a site you want to spend time on”

“The way it is linked to real life is brilliant”

Pilot feedback

Inspiring people of all ages to see and use

numeracy as a life skill to enhance their personal

lives, as well as their employability