VIEWS & OPINION Lifting the lid on dyscalculia Comment by SAL McKEOWN, journalist and editor
March 15th and 16th are the dates for the first ever Dyscalculia Show. it takes place alongside the well established Dyslexia Show at the NEC in Birmingham. Dyscalculia affects 3.5 million people, around 6% of the UK population but until now if has not received the same profile as dyslexia.
The last few months have put maths in the spotlight. ‘Figures from the Department for Education show that 77.3% of students in England do not attain a C (ie a pass grade) in English or maths when they resit the exam
post-16.’ So says Steve Chinn, internationally recognised for his work on dyscalculia. This is depressing news especially as the Prime Minister announced he is making numeracy a central objective of the education system and that he wants to see all children studying some form of maths to 18.
Those looking to raise the bar will benefit from Steve Chinn’s book ‘How to Teach Maths: Understanding Learners’ Needs’ (2021) which looks at pedagogy and teaching strategies, especially how to include more visual support for learners. Another excellent resource is The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers (2018). Author Bobby Seagull seems to be on TV every week right now but he is also a maths teacher at a comprehensive in East Ham. He says: ‘As a school maths teacher, one issue that saddens me is that while society recognises and rightly caters for those with dyslexia, the mathematical equivalent of dyscalculia is less well known and understood.
In my own classroom, when I have identified students with dyscalculia, I try to make the maths less abstract and more connected to the real world. I will try to uncover the outside world interests of these students (be it football, music, baking) and then ensure the maths uses these fields as a contextual grounding. This can allow the students to relate more to the mathematical topic and increase their likelihood of fluency. I have also found that using interactive quizzes, where you gamify the maths experience, can also make the students enjoy the learning process more. In some ways, catering for students with dyscalculia means that you are also more likely to engage with all learners.’
The Dyscalculia Show is not just another event in a packed conference schedule. It marks the beginning of a movement towards improving awareness and support for dyscalculia. It has attracted some of the big names in the field, including Judy Hornigold and Brian Butterworth, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology at UCL. Brian’s work formed the basis of the Dyscalculia Screener (2003), still the only standardised assessment tool for dyscalculia, while Judy is co-founder of the Dyscalculia Association and Everybody Counts.
Arran Smith, organiser of the event at the NEC, has been delighted by the response. ‘We’ve got 11 dedicated speakers across education, parents and individuals speaking about their lived experience. Whether you’re an educator, a parent, an employer, or an individual seeking knowledge and resources, this event is tailor-made for you.’
For more information and to register interest, go to
https://dyscalculia.show/
Lights, camera, lesson! Comment by DAWN LANGAN, Producer, BBC Teach Live Lessons
2024 marks 100 years since the very first programme for schools was broadcast on the BBC and we’re nearly at our 100th Live Lesson. The series was launched in 2015 to support teachers and students, encouraging them to get creative with the curriculum. We have gained a loyal audience of schools who join us for every lesson, sending us an email or a social media post. It’s amazing to see the reaction of a class to the challenges we set and the brilliant, thoughtful questions we receive from children. I wanted to share why I think teachers have embraced Live Lessons and give a sneak peak of what’s coming up this year.
Marking national moments in the school calendar There are events that schools mark every year, from World Book Day to Safer Internet Day and British Science Week. We look for creative ways of bringing an event to life that captures the attention of a class, and has a strong curriculum focus too. Our most popular Live Lesson in 2023 was dedicated to Anti-Bullying Week. We were inspired by the theme, Make a Noise, recording fun sound effects to help children spot and speak out against bullying behaviour. A school in Torquay emailed us to say: “We are a SEMH provision and sometimes (children) find it difficult to concentrate, but we are all taking part in your Live Lesson and are really enjoying it.”
Additional interactive resources
Every Live Lesson comes with downloadable digital resources, created by a specialist education consultant, to support anyone joining in. There is always an accompanying teacher guide detailing how to prepare and activity sheets children can use in real time alongside the programme. We always include additional downloads and links, giving a teacher everything they need to continue the conversation in the classroom long after the show has ended.
Fun challenges
We know how much children love being given an active role to play within a fun scenario or narrative. We usually set a challenge that must
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be completed by the end of the Live Lesson with learning activities building and contributing to the end task. For our recent Romans History Live Lesson, children became detectives, working out the identities of three mystery residents of
Vindolanda. We received so many questions sparked by the artefacts shown. My favourites were: “Did the Romans get a cold in Vindolanda?” “Why couldn’t girls join the army” and “How comfortable were Roman pants, socks and sandals?” All valid questions, I think you’ll agree.
Follow-up activities
Live Lessons can act as a springboard for follow-up activities and classroom discussions. Our Remembrance Live Lesson, for example, was themed around poetry. It would be too much to ask children to create a poem during the 30-minute broadcast, so we focused on building a word bank and exploring poetic devices, providing them with the tools to start writing. As always, our consultants share practical top tips for follow-up activities in the teacher guide.
Coming up in 2024
Hold on to your hats, capes, and broomsticks! We will be staging a dazzling World Book Day Live Lesson on 7 March focusing on inspiring children to read for pleasure.
Children will be challenged to use their scientific knowledge to solve a series of invertebrate-themed tasks for a Live Lesson to be held on 11 March during British Science Week.
We’ll be celebrating 100 years since the first BBC broadcast for schools with a special literacy Live Lesson on 22 April (date subject to change, please check the BBC Teach website). Pupils will be invited to come behind the scenes at MediaCityUK – home of BBC Children’s and Education – and find out how to write and present a radio report. To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, our Live Lesson on 13 May will aim to provide young minds with the essential knowledge, support, and tools to navigate their emotional wellbeing.
February 2024
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