NEWS AND UPDATES

As experts in assessment, Cambridge Assessment believed that a sensible debate was needed to help construct a better maths curriculum for England and yesterday they hosted ‘It doesn’t add up: what’s wrong with maths?’which were able to take part in.

This research conducted by Ipsos MORI for the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London was primarily focused on investigating trust in the use of statistics. However, the research also has some interesting insights around attitudes to maths generally.

An interesting talk from TED - The key to success? Grit - which has very strong links to our own ideas on attitudes to maths and that everyone can do it but it will require perserverance and hard work.

Lincolnshire and Rutland Workplace Learning Advocates network has won the NIACE Midlands Region workplace project award for its’ innovative approach to peer learning support.

This article in The Herald Scotland draws a lots of similarites to our views on the need for improving numeracy to build a strong economy, how attitudes to maths is a key part of this and that numeracy is hidden behind literacy...

At National Numeracy we are constantly looking for avenues where we can spread the message of our campaign to to allow every person in the UK to possess a level of numeracy that allows them to meet their full potential. Here is the latest list of 2013 events that National Numeracy is represented at.

We welcome the announcement that the Department for Education is now funding the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to develop a 1 year professional development programme for maths teachers at Key Stage 3 – when pupils are aged 11 to 14.

Too many children will continue to fail at maths unless significant changes are made to the proposed direction of the school curriculum, according to the charity National Numeracy. In a letter to the Education Secretary Michael Gove, the chief executive of National Numeracy Mike Ellicock says that proposals for the new school maths curriculum in England will do nothing to build the positive attitudes and resilience that are essential to children’s learning. By offering merely an atomised list of concepts and skills, without recognising the links between them, the curriculum will not develop the confidence, understanding and resilience that we all need to function effectively in adult life.

As the National Numeracy Challenge develops we are gathering growing support for the project and it's aims.

The Spring 2013 edition of Update is about new and current literacy, language and numeracy projects, including a piece about the National Numeracy Challenge.