Cross Curricular Numeracy. How and why it should be implemented.

The Oxford dictionary defines numeracy as ‘the ability to understand and work with numbers’. Numeracy is a vital tool used every day inside and outside of school hours by people around the world, for example, giving the correct change to a customer, working out how many minutes until a bus or train arrives, understanding how much you save with a 30% discount and making sense of graphs and statistics you see on the news. Those are just a few examples of how extensively numeracy is used on a daily basis and it shows the importance of having an understanding of the subject. Numeracy is commonly perceived as ‘difficult to teach’ when compared to literacy. Teachers often feel that they need additional support when teaching numeracy and this may be because they did not like learning maths when they were in school (UNRWA). However,a pupil’s ability to interpret information and their accuracy in mathematics may be improved by developing numeracy across the curriculum.

The literacy and numeracy framework (LNF) sets the skills learners are expected to develop and is designed to help integrate literacy and numeracy into all subjects from ages 5 to 13 (Welsh Government, 2014).

The impact of poor numeracy includes lower rates of employment, lower average wages, poorer health, social, emotional and behavioural issues, higher rates of school exclusion, truancy and crime (National numeracy, 2019)

Currently in Wales, learners are expected to be able to use number skills, use measuring skills, use data skills and develop numeracy reasoning (Welsh Government, 2014). The Welsh Government has also stated that teachers may use the LNF to integrate numeracy and literacy into all their teaching, whatever the subject and to develop curriculum content to ensure all pupils are given the opportunity to ‘develop and refine’ the skills in the LNF (Learning Wales). This is a topic for discussion and somewhat concern for many teachers.

The new curriculum that is expected to be introduced in September 2022, suggests that there should be six areas of learning end experience. These are listed as; expressive arts, health and wellbeing, humanities, mathematics and numeracy, science and technology and languages, literacy and communication (Welsh gov .Wales).

It has been reported by the Welsh Government that there is not enough conceptual understanding of numeracy and there is ‘too much reliance on procedural fluency (techniques/tricks)’ (Wales Online, date). The article also states there will be a change on emphasis from knowing what needs to be done in order to answer a question, to what needs to be done and how it works.

There are endless ways numeracy can be integrated into lessons of all subjects and Donaldson hopes the new curriculum will highlight this.

Some examples of how numeracy may be used throughout the curriculum are:

·      History: Use the concept of time, numbers and dates, working out the sequence of events/dates and learning how to use and make a timeline.

For example, giving a child a list of dates and events that form a sequence could help them understand why the events that led to the start of a war happened.

·      Science: Making measurements, collecting data, comparing, and interpreting data, graphs and diagrams, estimation, logical reasoning.

For example, asking children to measure the temperature change in a reaction and plotting the results in a graph will benefit their numeracy skills.

·      English: includes reading and writing numbers, for example time and measurement concepts in English.

·      Physical education: includes number concept, measurements, and practical activities of measuring distance. For example, children can record times, work out average lap time, measure heartbeat and pulse rates and recovery rates to judge their fitness.

·      Arts: includes geometry (shapes), perspective. For example, understanding how shapes tessellate will help children design their own patterns in traditional styles.

Educating teachers that teaching numeracy across the board is not something to be concerned about would be prioritised to ensure effective cross curricular numeracy because if the teachers are showing anxiety about this it will have a negative impact on the children and young people in school. As numeracy is so widely used in the UK and indeed worldwide toady we must overcome this feeling of reservation.

It has been proved that improved numeracy skills lead to better paid job, greater wellbeing and a less stressful life (Humphries, 2019), therefore I believe every child should be given the best start in life to achieve the highest they can. I also believe having numeracy taught across all subjects is achievable, as long as teachers are aware of the possibilities and benefits of this happening. Numeracy is so widely used today that it is vital that everyone has an adequate understanding and I believe the best way to do this is to implement numeracy into all aspects of learning.

References:

Government, W. (2014). Learning Wales. [online] Learning.gov.wales. Available at: https://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/nlnf/?lang=en [Accessed 1 May 2019].

Gov.wales. (2019). Successful Futures. [online] Available at: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-03/succesful-futures-a-summary-of-professor-graham-donaldsons-report.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2019].

Humphries, C(2019) numeracy skills count. National numeracy UK

Schleicher, A. (2019). Why is numeracy important?. [online] National Numeracy. Available at: https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/why-numeracy-important [Accessed 2 May 2019].

UNRWA The teacher's role in promoting literacy and numeracy. (2013). p.22.

Wightwick, A. (2019). These are Wales' new school subjects. [online] walesonline. Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/first-details-what-wales-new-16197528 [Accessed 2 May 2019].