Dispatches – Kids Don’t Count

A Dispatches TV documentary ‘Kids Don’t Count’ about the lack of basic Maths skills in primary schools really hit a nerve with me. Most shocking were the findings that many primary school teachers have trouble with basic Maths themselves and also the methods of teaching are sometimes inadequate. This means that kids simply don’t understand what division or multiplication or fractions etc. mean in the real world. They just see symbols.

Traditional maths teaching (pre 1970’s) used to involve chanting the times tables for example - drumming into the heads of young minds the basic principles of maths. I know that even now I lack some basic skills in Maths and I can trace this back to being told to ‘go away and learn your times tables’ over the summer holidays - before the final year of primary school. I never did. This meant that I was a step behind in secondary school but no-one really thought it was a problem because I was ahead of the game in all my other subjects. Judging by the TV programme and talking to teachers I know, I am not alone in ‘hating Maths’ at school and never really addressing the problem - you only need a Grade C in Maths GCSE to be able to teach.

It also seems that if you are bright and literate, you can kind of get away with little Maths, we all use spreadsheets and calculators these days anyway. But when it comes to working out percentages, splitting the bill at a restaurant or maybe even working out your credit card bill or mortgage rate… maybe this is one of the reasons people get into financial problems or just don’t ask the right questions. Knowledge is power after all.

If you need help with Maths, the BBC skills wise website is very useful… also ties in with adult literacy, my pet hate is people using words out of context so try the Free rice quiz for words and meanings. There’s also a quiz on the Channel 4 site to test your Maths knowledge but it’s probably best not to try this if your confidence with numbers is already low.

Try this sum with people in your office - 1/2 ÷ 1/4 = ? You may be surprised at the answers. (answer is 2 by the way : 2 x 1/4 = 1/2)