Tim Muffett of BBC Breakfast interviewed students and teachers at north London’s Anson Primary School, which has a novel solution to the problem – teach the parents!

Teachers at Anson School have produced short video snippets outlining key principles that parents can watch with their offspring and so become a constructive part of the homework process.

The idea that Anson Primary School is teaching the wrong people is wide of the mark. As we know well at Maths-Whizz – the most engaged and motivated students have engaged and motivated parents.

A child whose mother enjoys a subject, or is confidently able to assist him with homework, will be more inclined to see value in the subject, to do well at school, and to ask for constructive help.

This is something we’ve been fostering with Maths-Whizz for some time.

The circle of learning with Maths-Whizz

Our home and schools maths tutoring services promote communication between parents, teachers, and students – parents experience our animated tutor with their children, teachers discuss student reports with parents, and kids tend to talk to one another about toys, pets, and our Challenge feature.

[BBC News]

Maths GCSE A* whizzes Raam and Meera Songara (Telegraph)

The junior GCSE maths-whizzes earned this achievement seemingly without pushy parenting:

[Raam and Meera] began studying independently after they were given maths textbooks by their father Dipak when they were just four and five.

Mr Songara said he only got them the books to keep them occupied while he and wife Ruksmani, 30, looked after younger brothers Shiva, seven, and Aum, three.

Credit to the clearly motivated kids who seem to love maths. And credit also to their parents who – at least at the moment – are in no hurry to push these high-achievers through the system at a tender age:

”I just want them to enjoy their childhood. There’s no rush for them to take their A Levels.”

The God of Whizz approves – after all, a childhood filled with play and ‘childish’ things is a key part of becoming a rounded and functional adult. There’s plenty of time yet for these bright children to fulfil their ambitions:

[Raam] said that he wants to become a mathematician one day, but Meera’s favourite subject is English and she is keeping her options open for the future.

(OneIndia)

often scared of basic numeracy and should be required to study English and maths at A-level

…according to a report by the moderate conservative Politeia think-tank.

The report, titled ‘Teachers Matter’ focuses on entry standards for teachers. An author, David Burghes, of the University of Plymouth, said:

One of the issues that bedevils our teaching profession, and particularly my subject of mathematics, is that of the inadequate subject knowledge of teachers.

But Nansi Ellis, head of education policy at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, countered:

As well as knowing their subject, teachers need to understand the different ways children learn and develop.

Instead of hysterical reports of so-called under-educated teachers we should have a proper debate about the skills and knowledge teachers need to be good at teaching children.

The report goes on to argue that central control and management of teachers is damaging the profession, but the department for Children, Schools and Families strongly criticised the comments.

From this corner, it seems that questions about the qualifications of teachers will never go away. Commenters from both sides of the political divide will argue that life experience and teaching knowledge are more important than academic bona-fides, whilst others will argue that degree- or A-level knowledge is vital to ensure good teaching in that particular subject.

I’m inclined to hedge my bets on this one. I had excellent teachers whose passion was fuelled by their deep understanding of the subjects they taught, and I had dull teachers whose poor teaching seemed a direct result of their academic immersion.

In earlier years, I remember most the teachers who showed vigour and interest, but it was easy to spot teachers who were less confident in particular subjects. I’d like to think that the love of teaching must come first – a motivated and bright teacher can be taught fluency in a subject that isn’t her own, but a knowledgeable teacher isn’t necessarily willing to be motivated. I know that not all teachers want to tackle subjects they didn’t learn beyond GCSE – the teacher training process should identify those people and ensure they are pushed towards areas they are comfortable with.

A teacher who is dull, or even disparaging, about a subject can sometimes do more damage than good. Feel free to comment!

The report’s chair, Edward Leigh, said:

It is disgraceful that over one fifth of all primary school children reach the end of their primary education without a secure grasp of basic mathematical skills.
This can have serious long-term consequences: for many then continue through secondary school without acquiring basic numeracy skills, impairing their chances in life and leaving them later in need of expensive remedial education.

It would seem that more primary school students need the preventive attentions of somewhat cheaper education services if the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report’s findings hold true. Edward Leigh points to the fact that early maths teaching is where it all begins, recognising what I think are the basic truths about maths teaching:
- Maths is progressive – complex maths is built on the simple
- Early experiences of maths help to define lifelong confidence in the subject.

The report notes that maths is the one area in which primary age boys are outperforming girls, and that the performance gap is widening. There are various theories about the reason for girls’ underperformance in maths and science, but it’s arguable that this discrepancy is a symptom of the wider problem that the PAC report points to – namely, that too many students think “maths is boring”.

You could argue this is a little obvious – a weak student by default will be turned off by his or her least favourite subject – but that this complaint is so often heard, despite the huge amounts spent on boosting maths teaching in primary schools over recent years, is cause for concern. Early gains in student maths performance have apparently levelled off, leaving the government’s targets (that students at age 11 reach Level 4) a less attainable.

In defence of the government’s ahicevements (or lack thereof) Schools Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry pointed out that last year 100,000 more students achieveved level 4 at age 11 than did so in 1997.

An interesting note in the report suggests that family maths classes will help students.

The report, which examined maths teaching in 28 schools, suggested that one way to help to close these gaps and improve the effectiveness of maths teaching, would be to involve parents more.

Examples of good practice include family learning events ranging from informal coffee mornings to parental classes on the curriculum.

In this respect, we can feel vindicated that Maths-Whizz methods chime with the NAO researchers’ findings. Parental engagement with students’ maths is a cornerstone of the Maths-Whizz Tutoring programme.

With Maths-Whizz, progress and performance reports are available online at any time. We always encourage new subscribers to login to their account pages to see how their children are doing. Crucially, we also want parents to talk to their students about maths. After all, as Sarah Ebner, a Times Online journo and blogger, suggests, it is almost as useful for parents to know how their children are learning maths as it is for the children themselves.

If we want to shed our national image of blissful mathematical ignorance, it seems we’ll have to teach the kids and their parents. I don’t doubt there are thousands of ten-year-olds who would willingly give away a fortune in sweets to see their parents mugging up on their maths.