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How is National Numeracy involved with local authorities?

24 Jun 2024

What is Multiply?

Multiply is a 3-year initiative from the Department for Education to put funding behind reaching and engaging adults who do not yet have a maths qualification, to help them to get started with improving their numeracy.

The spirit of Multiply is to be innovative, trying out ways to break down the barriers that currently stop adults who aren’t confident with numbers from engaging with local provision. The second year of Multiply finished on the 31st March 2024, and we have now started the third and final year in April 2024.

Across Year 1 and Year 2 of Multiply, we worked with 24 local authorities to support the adults in their local area to take their first steps to improve their confidence and skills with everyday maths.

Read the Multiply Year 1 & 2 Impact Report

Multiply Skills for Life logo

How can National Numeracy help local authorities to get the most out of Year 3?

We can help you with a range of innovative, non-substantive, engagement activities – the steps that are crucial before adults are motivated to join formal provision. These include:

  • Our flagship CPD-accredited Numeracy Champion training, which empowers local mentors in a range of organisations to support other adults to improve their numeracy.
  • The National Numeracy Challenge – a unique online learning platform developed to support adults with low confidence and numeracy skills. This platform allows us to support learners at scale, and the data provided to local authorities gives an indicator of numeracy levels across the area.
  • Delivering Confidence with Numbers workshops for adults to overcome barriers to engaging with available provision, and Help Your Child Love Maths! sessions to help parents & careers feel more positively about supporting children.
  • Our annual innovative campaigns to reach and engage adults most in need of improving their numeracy, as well as local authority tailored comms materials and guidance so you can get involved. This included National Numeracy Day on the 22nd of May and will include Number Confidence Week in November.

"Working with National Numeracy has been one of the best decisions we have made since we started delivering the Multiply programme.

"We have used the National Numeracy Challenge to start conversations and to help us engage with some of the hardest to reach learner across Gloucestershire. The resources that have been made available to our team and our learners to support the delivery of the Multiply programme are of fantastic quality and have clearly been created from a vast amount of knowledge and information about Maths and the barriers that people face with this subject.

"National Numeracy has been instrumental in the successful delivery of Multiply across Gloucestershire, they have enabled us to raise our profile, to disseminate core information on Maths and to help many people start their journey to overcoming their feat of the subject.

"The National Numeracy team is dedicated, knowledgeable and helpful, they have been a pleasure to work with and have been core to our success with the Multiply programme."

– Sarah Carne, Gloucestershire County Council

Learn more about becoming a Numeracy Champion

Here are just some of the authorities we are supporting in Year 3 of Multiply:

Read more about our work with local authorities:

Want to find out more?

We can help you with all, or just some, of the above, and tailor a support package that meets your needs and budget.

If you'd like to arrange a call to discuss this further, then simply email [email protected]