National Numeracy Parental Engagement project - survey

[SarahMumsnet]

Children's first encounters with maths come from their parents and carers - from sorting toys to measuring ingredients; going shopping to telling the time. Talking about and taking part together in activities that involve maths can make a big difference to children’s confidence - and future achievement. But when it comes to a subject such as maths, lots of us feel worried about how best to help, and aren’t sure where to look for support.

National Numeracy is running a Parental Engagement project that aims to support parents and carers in engaging with their children’s maths education and in improving their own maths skills. We’re talking to parents all over the country to find out what kind of support they really want when it comes to maths - and we'd really like Mumsnetters' input.

If you'd like to help shape the next stage of our project, please take our Parents’ Survey - it'll only take five minutes.

Thanks very much for your help - if you'd like more info now, do go to our Help for Parents and Carers page to downloads parents’ guide to everyday maths.

[Meglet]

Done.

[sjnatnumeracy]

Thanks SarahMumsnet for posting!

Parents! National Numeracy want to hear your thoughts about maths - help us make our parents' project great! :)

Got any questions? Have a look at www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/parents/index.html

[Retropear]

Done

[pointythings]

Done.

[Bunnyjo]

Done.

[NettleTea]

couldnt have come at a more apt time

[mummyxtwo]

Done

[igivein]

Done. Just been discussing this with a mum friend this morning.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Done

[BlackeyedSusan]

that was fun.

[mnistooaddictive]

done but bad questionnaire design. What do occasionally or often mean? You need more objective terms. This would not get the marks at GCSE maths.

[Pointeshoes]

Liked the thumbs up at the end.

[DavidHarewoodsFloozy]

Completed.

[juniper44]

As a teacher, rather than a parent, I'd say the biggest issue is parents only feeling confident in their own experiences of maths. For example, nowadays we use number lines in lots of different situations, whereas parents were taught to use column addition / subtraction and long division and multiplication. I find that parents teach their children these methods regardless of what the school teaches, and then the children feel conflicted. Although these methods work, schools try to teach the other methods first as they help children have a deeper understanding of the relationship between numbers.

[StealthPolarBear]

Done
Juniper that is exact the issue! Dh. And I have degrees in mathematical subjects and I have a maths job and yet find helping ds with his homework so hard. Also you take for granted how much you do automatically - I sometimes have to stop dh and point out , no that bit you've just said isn't obvious to him as it is to you.

[StealthPolarBear]

Eg when you roll a dice you don't count the spots, your brain just registers the pattern. But dd still has to count the spots. That's obvious because we see her doing it. But there are so many of these things that we take for granted but they are not in fact obvious and it's that stuff I struggle to explain

[Slubberdegullion]

Done

[juniper44]

My analogy relates to a function machine. You put a number into the machine, something goes whirl fizz bang and the answer comes out. With column methods, you don't need to understand what happens inside the machine; you follow a method and you get an answer. If it's correct then fantastic, but if it's not then you can't see where and why you went wrong.

If you teach children to look at what's happening within the machine, then they get a better understanding. I often tell my class the answer, and then ask them to explain how we got there.

Weirdly, I now see things on a number line mentally. I was taught column method in year 2, and had never heard of a number line before I started teaching. But number is continuous, so a number line does make sense.

[Idratherbemuckingout]

Done

[UniS]

DH has done this one. Not sure NN will understand one of his answers... not many people understand the sort of maths DH uses every day at work.

Was that survey designed by a 12 year old?

[breatheslowly]

Done. But I think that the age of your child may influence how you respond. I don't feel challenged by working on numeracy with my DD because she is 3. I might struggle when she takes Further Maths A level.

I am also interested in what Juniper says about using different methods and being conflicted. I would like to know more about the methods used in reception/KS1 but I don't have access to a school yet and may well have started to teach things my own way to my DD by the time she starts school at nearly 5.

[ItStillLooksLikeRainDear]

Done

[RedlipsAndSlippers]

Done. I feel quite confident in maths myself, I work in a bank so get lots of practice. My problem is figuring out how to explain to 5 year old DD how to do things that I do without thinking, IYSWIM.

[tumble11]

Check out www.noalot.com/