Opinion: Focus on numeracy is essential

As I stated last week, many school children in Peterborough are now performing higher than the national average. However, the national statistics for adult numeracy skills need improvement.

Government statistics suggest that up to 17 million adults in the UK (49 percent of the working age) don’t have the numeracy skills they should. This is holding people back from achieving their full potential and comes at a cost to the UK economy and individual life chances.

Research from Pro Bono Economics shows the cost to the UK economy as a whole could be up to £25bn lost in wages.

Low numeracy can prevent progression at work, increase money problems and make it difficult for parents to help with homework.

This week the Prime Minister outlined his plan to tackle this.

The Prime Minister wants to reimage our approach to numeracy with all students in England studying maths until the age of 18.

Being numerate means having the confidence and skills to use numbers and data to make good decisions at work and in daily life. Low numeracy in adults was tackled last year with the Governments £560 million ‘Multiply’ scheme.

This was aimed at improving numeracy skills of around 500,000 adults that struggle the most through free personal tutoring, digital training and flexible online courses.

Maths to 18 is a longer-term solution which will prepare young people with the skills they need for the jobs of today and the future in an ever-developing world. This is a transition towards a higher wage, higher skilled economy and it will help Level Up in regions with higher proportions of low numeracy skills.

It will put England on a par with most other OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway and the United States.

There is no reason why the UK cannot rival the best education systems in the world.

In the Autumn Statement, the government announced that it will invest an additional £2bn in schools this year and £2bn next year, taking school funding to its highest ever level, further proving this governments commitment to education.

We have already seen results when we focus on areas of education. The government’s focus on literacy since 2010, including phonics, has led to significant improvements in standards.

In 2012, only 58% of 6-year-olds were able to read words fluently, but by 2019, the figure had risen to 82%.

The new focus on numeracy will match this.

We have a responsibility to equip the future generations with all the skills to go on and achieve great things. There is clear scope to improve adult numeracy skills in England, and I believe maths to 18 will help achieve this.