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DEBATE NUMERACY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
PRESENT: Amanda Buchanan
Department for Work and Pension Neil Bullows
The Whitehall Hotel, Darwen Donna Clayton
Blackpool Council
Richard Slater - Lancashire Business View (Chair) Richard Evans Workers’ Educational Association (WEA)
Briony Fawcett PHX Training Lee Gibson
Myerscough College
Michele Lawty-Jones Lancashire Skills Hub
James Sandwell The Fun Experts
Annette Weekes Pursuit Aerospace
Karen Wignall
Blackburn with Darwen Council Geoff Mason
North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce
Numeracy has become a key issue with Rishi Sunak looking to end what he calls the ‘anti-maths mindset’ and plans to make maths education
until 18 compulsory. Meanwhile, Lancashire has secured more than £7.5m to invest in numeracy skills for adults through the Multiply programme. With the Lancashire Skills Hub, we brought a panel to Whitehall Hotel and Distillery, Darwen, to discuss the benefits of better numeracy skills
Annette Weekes
Why is it acceptable for us to joke that we’re rubbish at maths? We wouldn’t joke that we can’t read.
We have BAE Systems recruiting 1,000 engineers and expanding into space, we have National Cyber Force coming to Samlesbury with digital and cyber
jobs. We have a huge opportunity in Lancashire and all of those jobs and careers are underpinned by maths and numeracy.
Why should a kid in Darwen get more engaged with maths? Well, because there are jobs down the road building fighter jets, making aeroplane engines. Even the gaming economy that’s building and the colleges are promoting, is all underpinned by maths.
We need to knock down the view that we don’t need maths, ‘it isn’t useful’ and you’ll never use it after school. Collectively we all have to do our bit.
Whether you’re running government or working in a council, at a global aerospace company or you’re a one-man band, a barber, a bricklayer, there isn’t anybody that improved maths and improved numeracy skills won’t help. Even if that’s just balancing your own budget. This touches every individual and every grade of business and enterprise.
is perfectly acceptable.
Simple calculations, in construction just being able to work out an area and how many bricks need ordering. Those basic maths skills provide instant productivity. We’re using Excel more and more. You can use it to work out a lot by being able to understand how certain sums can be put together.
Kids who won’t go back into a classroom and do their maths GCSE need some way of being able to get the right skills so they can go ahead and succeed at an apprenticeship.
We can get more people upskilled and trained at entry level roles and we can make supervisory roles more productive, and ensure their teams are more productive, by a better understanding of the numbers.
Geoff Mason
Numeracy isn’t necessarily just qualifications, it’s about people being confident with numbers. We’ve all seen people who as soon as you put any numbers in front of them it’s a ‘rabbits in the headlight’ situation.
It’s almost like they shut off because numbers aren’t their thing and ‘I’m not good at maths’
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