Pupils + lockdown = extra maths lessons … for schoolteachers

Training to halt numeracy crisis among children

TEACHERS are being given extra maths training to try to halt a slide in standards of numeracy among pupils.

Local authorities are worried that two years of Covid school closures and restrictions have left a generation of children lacking basic maths skills.

Now all primary and secondary maths teachers in one part of Scotland are receiving specialist in-person training to help pupils get back on track.

However, a top academic has warned that a ‘dereliction of duty’ by the Scottish Government has meant a lack of data which would allow proper investigation of children’s attainment.

Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, said: ‘Undoubtedly Covid has damaged children’s learning and has widened inequalities. There is a creeping crisis, which is the gradual erosion of standards, the gradual disruption of schools, the inattention to the eroding effects of Covid.

‘If you haven’t learned the basics of arithmetic you cannot go further in maths, you cannot go further in science.

‘The full impact of that has not ended now that the pandemic has ended – it affects people right throughout their schooling and into their adult life as well.’

Lockdown saw schools closed for months followed by further disruption due to self-isolation. Now a South Lanarkshire Council numeracy report has highlighted the need for action.

While the report says school leavers’ attainment in maths broadly reflects national figures, it raises serious concerns about the poorest primary school children.

Council statistics show that, despite the attainment gap narrowing before the pandemic, in 2020-21 the gap increased by a third from 15 per cent to 20 per cent.

For P1 children, the attainment gap – the difference in attainment between the most and leastdeprived children – doubled to 18 per cent during 2020-21.

Almost 200 teachers in South Lanarkshire have now undertaken the Maths Recovery course which is being rolled out across the area.

It trains staff in basic maths and numerical strategies and in monitoring pupils. The report said: ‘Acknowledging the impact on learners’ numeracy experiences through Covid-19 related lockdowns and interrupted learning during 2020-2022, it is crucial that numeracy development is an area which receives additional focus.

‘This is required at all stages with a particular need to support the early stages of numeracy development and to reduce the poverty related attainment gap at Level 4 in S3. Schools which have embedded Maths Recovery across all stages have seen the greatest improvements.’

The report said the schools which have been worst affected by Covid would be prioritised, with more than 270 staff already completing the course. At least six Scottish councils are now using the Maths Recovery training.

Professor Paterson welcomed their efforts but said Scotland, unlike England, had no targeted programmes for the impact of Covid, not only on maths ‘but also on literacy and science’.

He said: ‘In fact, until very recently there was a complete denial that Covid had any impact at all – John Swinney said that many children flourished during Covid.’

‘An inattention to the eroding effects of Covid’