Strategies for Numeracy Across The Curriculum
Numeracy is the ability to understand numbers and calculations. It is recognized as one of the most important life skills learnt at school, alongside literacy and oracy.
Knowledge bank
While most teachers have long recognized the importance of numeracy, the government has strengthened its position within primary and secondary schools through a range of initiatives and measures. The key initiative has been the National Numeracy Strategy.
The National Numeracy Strategy was launched in 1999 as a means of focusing teachers' and school leaders' attention on this critical aspect of education. It is now part of the Primary National Strategy and the Key Stage 3 Strategy. Its implications now extend far beyond the primary sector, with teachers in secondary schools also being asked to help develop numeracy.
A shift of thinking has taken place, so that all teachers are now seen as having a role to play in helping to develop learners' numeracy skills. It is, therefore, vital that teachers of all subjects identify ways to develop numeracy skills in a way that fits with the content of the curricula for the subject(s) they teach.
Much guidance has been provided by the DfES to schools on how numeracy should be taught in the primary phase. Indeed, many teachers consider that there has been an overbearing prescription on how it is taught. Guidance on the cross-curricular aspects of numeracy is less extensive, though it is beginning to be addressed through a range of materials.
For some learners numeracy is a source of anxiety and stress. Careful attention to supporting the learning of mathematical process, and awareness of limiting beliefs that learners may have about numeracy, is important. Introducing it through games can overcome the mental blocks experienced by some.
Ask yourself
- How do you currently try to develop numeracy in the subject(s) you teach?
- What challenges are there in developing numeracy in your classroom?
- What can you learn from practice elsewhere in your school that could enable you to develop numeracy skills more systematically?
To do list
- Consider in detail the principal ways in which numeracy relates to the subject(s) you teach. Draw a mind map or other graphic organizer to display this information and use it as an aide-memoire as you build on what you do.
- Attend a course to learn more about the subject-specific aspects of numeracy in your classroom.
- If you do not teach maths, team up with a maths teacher from your school in order to gain fresh perspectives on the opportunities to develop numeracy in your classroom. If you do, share your expertise with others.
- Invite your learners to look for the number-related aspects of each lesson.