What can be done to improve attitudes towards Mathematics in Welsh primary classrooms?

'What can be done to improve attitudes towards Mathematics in Welsh primary classrooms?’

Negative attitudes towards maths is something the British government are trying to tackle in the classroom - specifically in primary classrooms. The number of pupils that have taken a disliking to mathematics has increased over the years. There are many causes of negative maths attitudes but the main three include; Bad maths experiences, lack of support for adults and maths anxiety. (National Numeracy). Specifically focusing on these three things, a bad maths experience can happen to anyone in the primary classroom it stems from students not having confidence when using basic maths so this knocks their confidence when learning maths, from this they begin to disregard the importance of everyday maths and how it can be used. 'Maths shouldn't be seen as just a tool, or a compulsory subject. It is an enriching mental experience.' (Shanker, S 2017). Lack of support for adults is a common factor of what affects children in the primary classroom ,for example, some parents lack basic Mathematical skills and there is no improvement support available to them so that they can support their children.

Many adults are embarrassed by their lack of numerical skills and feel that it is too late to change this as the support available for numeracy compared to literacy is very low. Maths is described to have taken a 'back seat' compared to literacy when supporting adults. (National Numeracy) By providing more support to adults and help them improve their numerical skills we will also be supporting children in the long run, as parents will be able to provide extra support at home.

Finally,  maths anxiety is described as the "panic, helplessness, paralysis, and mental disorganisation that arises among some people when they are required to solve a mathematical problem” (Tobias, S., & Weissbrod, C. 1980). Having maths anxiety will lead people to avoid situations involving maths, especially children, we begin to see a decline in their work and this alternately affect their attitude.

‘Before children can become interested in math, they have to be comfortable with it.’ (Wills, J. 2010). Adults cannot just expect to try different scenarios and children will immediately overcome their negative persona of maths, a lot of different techniques need to be adapted in interesting children. Fostering their imagination and what they like and using these as advantages to interest children in math.

Johnston-Wilder, 2015 Adapted 4 stages of overcoming maths anxiety in the classroom;

1. Belief that everyone can progress with mathematical learning (brain capacity can be grown)

2. Understanding of the personal relevance of mathematics/statistics

3. Understanding of how study mathematics effectively

4. Seeking and accepting help when needed

The purpose of adapting these stages are to help children and prevent children having an anxiety towards maths which in the long run will prevent negative attitudes towards maths. These 4 stages are just a proposal of how to prevent negative attitudes in the classroom.

'Negative attitudes, rather than a lack of innate talent, are at the root of our numeracy crisis.' (National Numeracy) Basically stating how children do not actually have a lack of numerical skills or ‘talent’ for maths they are just conveying a negative attitude and National Numeracy believes that this is the root of the problem. The negative attitude conveyed towards maths is evidently becoming more of an issue in the primary classroom, according to (The Guardian, 2012) children develop this negativity between ‘age seven and nine’ and having a ‘bad attitude toward math makes children switch off’. This does lead teachers to require support from parents as there isn’t enough time in a day for a teacher to individually asses every child with a negative attitude and try to help them overcome this, they require parental support. There are many ways which parents can step in and support their child and help them possess a positive attitude towards math.

‘England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the lowest rate of young people continuing with maths beyond 16.’ (The Guardian, 2012)

Being ‘good’ at math doesn’t depend on how quick you can solve a question or how many questions you solve correctly in a short amount of time. Maths varies for each person individually to be ‘good’ at maths just means that you have a relevant understanding of the subject and are able to answer questions correctly. - not every question has to be answered correctly. Also, being bad at math isn’t a genetic it’s not something which children inherit from their parents as some parents tell their children ‘I wasn’t good at maths so you probably got it from me’ these are the jokes and comments which enable children to believe they aren’t good at something as their parents weren’t. Parents have such a big impact on children and their ideologies, and majority of the time as the role model to children they do pass on negative attitude toward things, maths being one of them. There are things that parents can do to help children develop the negativity into positivity and make maths something they enjoy. (Psychology Today, 2016)  believes that parents can;

• Motivate memories to ignite resilience
• Bust math myths and stereotypes
• Capture their imagination and maths will follow - interest them in math by using their imagination
• Math games at home and beyond
• Math on the move - incorporating maths physically into everyday things.
• Encouraging that making mistakes leads to resilience

Although in most cases some parents don’t understand how important their role is to their children and their attitude and how much their actions influence children as they’re impressionable.

The truth is that each person develops a different skill which they may be more successful at than others, it may be maths and it may not be, but supporting children and helping them pursue a positive towards maths is important.

References -

• National Numeracy (no date) 'Attitudes towards Maths'. Available at: https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/sites/default/files/attitudes_towards_maths_-_updated_branding.pdf  (Accessed 1/04/19)
• Shanker, S (2017) 'Why does my child hate Math?'. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/self-reg/201711/why-does-my-child-hate-math-part-1 (Accessed 1/04/19)
• Tobias, S., & Weissbrod, C. (1980). Anxiety and mathematics: an update. Harvard Educational Review, 50(1), 63-70.
• The Guardian (2012) ‘Bad attitude towards maths makes children switch off’. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/mar/07/world-maths-day-adult-innumeracy (Accessed 5/04/19)
• Johnston-Wilder, S., Lee, C., Garton, E., Brindley, J. (2014). Developing teaching for mathematical resilience in further education. 7th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, ICERI2014, Seville (SPAIN).
• Psychology Today (2016) ‘From math negative to math positive in your child’. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/radical-teaching/201603/math-negative-math-positive-attitudes-in-your-kids (Accessed 5/04/19)
• Wills, J (2010) ‘Learning to love math’. Available at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108073/chapters/Reversing-Math-Negativity-with-an-Attitude-Makeover.aspx (Accessed 5/04/19)