Lords Committee urges Government to end intergenerational cycle of poor numeracy

A House of Lords Committee has called for more Government action to help improve the nation's numeracy skills.

In its report, Making it Count: Numeracy for Life', published today (Tuesday 3 November), the cross-party Numeracy for Life Committee has made recommendations to improve numeracy skills from the cradle to retirement and calls for a National Year of Numeracy to promote and celebrate its importance for all ages.

After hearing from a range of witnesses including; teachers, academics, charities, education providers, financial experts, Government officials, a Minister and former Prime Minister, the report recognises improvements made in adult numeracy and the significant progress made in maths attainment in schools.

However, the report warns of a two-tier system being created with low achievers at school being trapped in a spiral of GCSE resits with only one in five 1619-year-olds who resit the exam achieving a Grade 4. This creates a barrier to further education and employment, reduces future earning capacity, restricts civic engagement and has an impact on the economy.

The Committee calls on the Government to support people:

from the cradle to the school gate by:

• ensuring guidance for parents and carers on literacy and reading is matched with guidance on numeracy skills;
  
  
• continuing to fund more early years practitioners to attend early-years maths leadership courses, including the Maths Champions programme.

through school years by:

• supporting schools to identify gaps in pupils' mathematical understanding early through diagnostic assessment in Year 8, as recommended as recommended by the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and exploring different ways to embed numeracy skills across the curriculum;
  
  
• sustaining its investment in the recruitment of specialist maths teachers;
  
  
• ensuring schools provide in service training on dyscalculia so that pupils with the condition receive early intervention and targeted support;
  
  
• evaluating the use of AI-enabled maths tutoring tools and identifying what safeguards are needed to avoid over-reliance on answers generated by technology.
  
  

between 16-19 years old as they move towards work by:

• publishing a post-16 mathematics and numeracy framework which recognises all maths qualification options for students to ensure they are set on the right progression route into apprenticeships, higher education or employment;
  
  
• encouraging schools to pass information about a learner's mathematical strengths and knowledge gaps to the further education college or provider responsible for their post-16 learning;
  
  
• providing further education colleges and other post-16 providers with sufficient funding and specialist teaching capacity to deliver effective GCSE mathematics resits;
  
  
• ensuring that occupational standards, apprenticeships and technical qualifications make numeracy expectations explicit and provide clear progression pathways for young people who have not achieved Level 2 mathematics.

through working years by:

• establishing the principle that every adult should have a clear opportunity to identify and improve their numeracy;
  
  
• publishing a cross-government national adult numeracy strategy which is delivered by local authorities through their existing adult skills plans. This should include flexible, short, contextualised and community-based adult numeracy courses alongside, and connected to, qualification routes;
  
  
• establishing a no wrong door' approach under which relevant public-facing services, including jobcentres, primary care, housing services and probation, routinely signpost adults who may benefit from improving their numeracy to suitable support;
  
  
• enabling appropriate provision for older people, to help them re-train for work, prepare for retirement, and manage health conditions.

manage their money by:

• continuing to work with organisations, such as The Richmond Project and Financial Times' FLIC programme, who create financial numeracy materials to support teachers in the classroom;
  
  
• encouraging bodies who provide financial debt advice to signpost sources of financial education, including all relevant gov.uk web pages, to help clients find longer-term help in understanding and managing their finances.
  
  

Lord Agnew, Chair of the House of Lords Numeracy for Life Committee said;

Numeracy impacts the everyday life of millions in their work, raising children, buying a home, managing health and finances and preparing for retirement.

Whilst there is much to celebrate with the improvement in maths attainment in schools and progress made in adult numeracy, the reality is that over 8 million adults still have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine year old and children from areas of high deprivation are still more likely to struggle with maths in school.

Our report calls for the intergenerational cycle of poor numeracy to be broken through an increased focus on early years numeracy, the recruitment of maths specialists in schools and more focus and work on supporting and signposting adults to access work and community learning opportunities.

This will not only empower them to meet and manage daily tasks and finances with renewed confidence but also help build the economy.