To think if you cannot add one half to one quarter you really should not be in teaching

[mrgrouper]

I am starting teacher training in September and so have joined some teacher training Facebook groups. We all have to pass professional skills tests in literacy and numeracy. The tests are pretty easy but there is a mental arithmetic test that a lot of trainees are panicking on. A woman has posted that she is doing the mock test and it claims one half plus one quarter is three quarters and she has no idea how the examiners had worked this out. She is not training to be a maths teacher but surely all teachers should know basic maths. I knew this stuff aged 7.

[IceBeing]

scary I don't think that's true. I don't think you have to have a low IQ to not 'get' fractions. I think you just have to have been taught them poorly in the first place and to have not used that information since.

Of course if we want to break that cycle....

[MissoniMad]

Scary really? she could have a specific learning difficulty rather than generally low IQ - I once knew someone doing post doctoral chemistry research who used a scribe and somebody to read to them because they could not correctly spell even some 4 letter words. They were more or less totally letter blind but clearly a very able chemist.

[MissoniMad]

Scary of course, either way (low IQ or SPLD) she isn't suited to teaching!

[sorenofthejnaii]

You'd have hoped that someone with a GCSE in maths (which is needed to do training) would know that 1/2 plus 1/ 4 = 3/4

Fractions can be hard though for some..

4/6 can be bigger than 5/6...

[LunaLoveg00d]

This "oh she might have dyscalculia" or "she might be dyslexic" or "she might have some other specific learning problem" - yes she might, but she shouldn't be considering a career as a primary teacher.

If you're blind, you can't be a pilot. If you're severely allergic to nuts, you can't get a job in the Snickers factory. And if you're innumerate, you can't be a bloody teacher.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

soren, tell me that wasn't your child's teacher who wrote that. Had he or she even read the printed question?

[PurpleDaisies]

You'd have hoped that someone with a GCSE in maths (which is needed to do training) would know that 1/2 plus 1/ 4 = 3/4

Exactly-that makes what makes me think the person has just forgotten how to add fractions with different denominators (and that was what they were asking about with their comment on the forum).

[practy]

It sounds like she doesn't understand the concept of fractions at all.

[zofranks]

Scarydinosaur I was with you for most of the messages - thought it was just me.

Glad the OP knows.

BTW - Did anyone explain it to the FB person? Or suggest that maybe teaching isn't the right profession for them after all?

[practy]

Also in terms of SN, once you are outside of education, unless you are absolutely brilliant in your field, adjustments are rarely made for it by employers. If you have dyscalculus, a school is not going to bring in someone extra to teach pupils maths.

[zofranks]

Scarydinosaur I was with you for most of the messages - thought it was just me.

Glad the OP knows.

BTW - Did anyone explain it to the FB person? Or suggest that maybe teaching isn't the right profession for them after all?

[mrgrouper]

Looks like Marty had a bigger pizza than Luis who had a rubbish tiny one.

[Scarydinosaurs]

ice with that specific question, it would be an ability to comprehend size and portions, rather than an understanding of fractions- adding a half to a quarter requires only a very simple addition (and we can see that in action when posters above spoke about cake, time etc) not an actual need to understand the rules of fractions.

I hope that makes sense- I did once know a lot about the developmental stages of the brain...but I pushed it out to retain more pressing knowledge of how to fill in SIMs spreadsheets.

[mrgrouper]

I did not want to say anything to the woman who could not do fractions. It is a bit of a weird group tbh, they keep going on about what bag is most fashionable for a teacher to have.

[MissoniMad]

YY Luna.

[specialsubject]

I weep for the kids they will teach if they aren't screened out now!

that is an incredibly basic question which can be demonstrated to a six year old, probably using cake. Someone who can't understand it is not capable of becoming a teacher.

[MissoniMad]

OP hopefully she will be told so one enough that she isn't a suitable candidate. I do wonder though if she was just having a bad day / dumb moment when she wrote that, given she did once presumably get a GCSE grade C??

[Scarydinosaurs]

purple but just saying it out loud would surely flag up that it was wrong?? It is definitely a sum that can be performed by anyone who has grasped the concept of whole, half and quarter.

[Scarydinosaurs]

mr are you going to do your mumsnet duty and regularly update us on stupid things that are posted?

[PurpleDaisies]

purple but just saying it out loud would surely flag up that it was wrong??

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. What are you referring to?

[Verbena37]

Whilst that sounds worrying for a primary teacher, mrgrouper you sound very up your own arse and judgey if you don't mind me saying.

The whoe point of the numeracy skills test is to make sure students can actually do basic maths and if they can't, they won't progress. So perhaps you don't need to worry about it.

[nonamehere]

Icebeing, I couldn't agree more. Children need to be taught how maths works (not just how to do it by rote) right from reception level, and that needs teachers who understand it themselves. Only by insisting on Primary teachers having mathematical skills beyond GCSE will we break the pattern - but it's not going to happen any time soon. And the celebrities coyly admitting that they were 'hopeless at Maths' drive me mad; as someone said upthread, they wouldn't think it so 'cool' to be unable to read or write.

[miaowmix]

Is this a joke thread?
Seriously, somebody wanting to be a teacher cannot understand this most basics of maths questions?

Mind boggling.

[loona13]

After my DS told me that they told him at primary school that British broke Enigma code, not much can surprise me about ability of ps teachers.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I think the saying it out loud comment meant that even if the aspiring teacher was having a stupid moment (and which of us hasn't?) surely just the process of writing the sum down/saying it out loud would be enough to make them realise where they were going wrong. That's another valuable quality for an aspiring teacher - having the ability to do a quick check of what's about to come out of their mouth before opening said mouth.