Maths Failing To Add Up At Primary Level.

A recent report has revealed 23 per cent of children at primary level fail to reach the standards expected of them in maths.

Despite a massive injection of 2.3 billion pounds during 2006 – 07 for teaching maths we still fail a huge number of children. The financial investment has been analysed as following the law of diminishing returns. Last year 66,000 children did not make the progress anticipated by their early achievements. This poses significant concern for their ultimate performance in the GCSE. The report also predicts that primary schools will continue to miss government targets by a wide margin in 2011. The situation is “far from rosy” said Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee of Public Affairs.

Although improvement has been made, clearly the target is being missed and the question of the root cause is far from resolved. Although training of more teachers in maths is one clear objective there is also a massive opportunity to enlist parents in the recovery plan. There is another way.

Schools use a significant number of maths games as teaching resources. These are ideal for use at home with parents, siblings and relatives joining in. Turning maths into an educational game brings an element of fun; an opportunity that can be highly productive. The techniques in the games are common with the school as the maths games have been developed to meet the National Curriculum. They are a significant step forward over the conventional text and exercise book approach that previously isolated many parents from homework support.

Considering there are 7.4 million households with school aged children, converting a small percentage to assist their children for 30 minutes a week at home would increase the effective teaching capacity. It would also induce a one to one relationship between parent and child and provide parents with a dynamic view of progress.

The drawback lies in the conversion of parents, many of whom shy away from the opportunity believing their knowledge of teaching procedures is different from current techniques. Many schools are addressing this misconception through family learning events where many adults discover their schooling experience is still extremely relevant. The historic drawback is the number of parents who would attend such events.

The report also indicated that children from Chinese and Indian ethnic groups perform better in maths than white and black children. It is perhaps no coincidence that parents in the far east are far more interactive in the schooling of their children.

Without a sea change there is a growing danger that many children will be left behind. If they are struggling at primary level the leap to secondary schooling with the commensurate jump in the curriculum will become a bridge too far for many. The burden on teachers to resolve this is an almost impossible task. Despite the recent influx of recruits in the teaching profession, spurred in part by the economic situation, the availability of inspirational maths teachers in the cohort is still to be revealed. A further concern is the staying power of such recruits. The safe harbour during the current climate may fail to retain some when the better times return, leaving schools and children high and dry.

The one constant are parents. There are c. 450,000 teachers who could potentially engage the active support of many of the 13 million parents of school children. If we are going to win the maths war we could look to the engagement of more troops.