FEATURE FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING
The pervasiveness of maths anxiety – bridging the home and school continuum
The need to understand maths and numeracy is present everywhere we look – in the news, in our payslips, when we shop and when we make future plans. Unfortunately, alongside that, comes another significant presence: maths anxiety.
“What unites maths-anxious people? Their belief they ‘can’t do maths’”
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n our first feature this month tackling the dual issues of mental health and wellbeing in schools we’re delighted to hear from Nicola Woodford-Smith, a Maths Subject Partner for Pearson. Nicola has taught maths for 13 years at both GCSE and A Level, and is well placed to discuss the problems maths anxiety can cause for pupils and the damaging effects it can have.
More than a third of all 15–24-year-olds in the UK currently experience maths anxiety, while 1 in 5 parents suffer a fear of numbers. The long-term consequences of disengaging from the subject can have an immense toll on people’s mental health, wellbeing and future prospects. Just imagine the undergraduate who cannot grasp how to budget for food and rent. The young person who slips into debt, not comprehending how much they will need to pay back. The parent who freezes when asked to help their child with their homework – and unwittingly perpetuates the cycle for the next generation.
What unites them all? The pervasive belief that they simply “can’t do maths”. Thankfully there are plenty of small steps that schools and families can take to turn this anti- maths mindset around, into a positive one that empowers every student. In this piece, we’ll explore tips and advice for teachers on spotting
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the signs, modelling maths positivity, and – with insights from Jason Elsom, CEO of Parentkind – spreading the impact from classrooms out into the home.
“Understand the problem to create preventative strategies”
It can sometimes be tricky to identify who is struggling with maths anxiety in a classroom. Since maths anxiety can sometimes correlates with the symptoms of poor behaviour or learner disengagement – such as automatically saying “I don’t know” when a question is posed; not beginning work; sticking to the “easiest” sums; not completing homework or only doing the bare minimum – it’s critical not to punish students when support is what they need. It may only compound their disengagement and their notion that maths is not a subject for them. The key thing to keep in mind is that when anxious students create a negative mindset in maths – and/or feel too stressed and under pressure in class – they are likely to apply what some experts call an “emotional handbrake”, which blocks their absorption of new information and sets them back even further in terms of progress.
Identifying the signs of maths anxiety can be as simple as asking learners for their views. Do they feel stressed during lessons? Are they struggling
September 2023
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