January 2009
Tuesday 29 January 2009
BBC News and BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
'Too many' cannot read and write
An "unacceptably" high number of people in England cannot read, write and count properly, MPs have warned.
The Public Accounts Committee said in 2007 51,000 pupils left school without a GCSE of at least D-G in maths and 39,000 left without this in English.
The report into adult literacy and numeracy also warned that only one in five offenders with poor basic skills had enrolled on a course to help them.
Ministers said no other government had invested so much in basic skills.
The committee of MPs said a lack of up-to-date information about skills meant the government could not be sure its schemes to improve basic skills were working.
Chairman of the PAC Edward Leigh said anyone who believed the government could meet its target of 95% adult literacy and numeracy by 2020 was "living in cloud cuckooland".
"Whilst they have made some progress, I don't think there's the remotest chance they will reach that," he told the BBC.
The committee called for better efforts to recruit numeracy teachers and urged the government to do more to encourage public services, such as health and housing, to promote training opportunities.
The Prison Service could play a vital role in helping offenders, the committee said.
A new survey of that scheme would be commissioned next year, he added.
The new survey was welcomed by Professor Greg Brooks from Sheffield University's School of Education.
Professor Brooks, who has conducted research into approaches to adult learning, said too little was known about what works to improve adult skills.
"We need to have more precisely focused investigation of the specific teaching methods which hold out the promise of better progress for learners," he said.
Read the article in full on the BBC website
Tuesday 6 January 2008
Innumeracy costs the taxpayer up to £2.4bn a year according to new KPMG Report.
Key findings from the Report by KPMG:
• Children with poor numeracy were more likely to be unemployed, claim more benefits and pay less tax.
•
The long-term costs of children leaving schools unable to do maths
could be as high as £44,000 per individual up to the age of 37.
•
This makes a total bill to the nation’s taxpayers of £2.4 BN every
year. The key component is nearly £1.9BN caused by so many innumerate
children ending up unemployed.
• Other costs are a £235m extra
annual bill to schools to pay for special needs support and the costs
of exclusions and truancy. Criminal costs account for £165m as so many
people who can’t manage basic maths drift into crime.
•
Initial research to be published next month suggests that such early
intervention can lift around eight out of ten of the children who
receive it out of numeracy failure. Using this evidence the report’s
authors estimate that every £1 spent on the Every Child Counts
programme will save between £12 and £19 later on.
Every Child Counts
Research
• The results of the Research phase of the Every Child Counts programme were published in October.
• They highlighted “a particularly strong impact...achieved by the multi-sensory teaching approach”, with the schools in Norfolk, who were using Numicon, achieving the highest “standardised gain per lesson available” of all the interventions.
•
This is particularly heartening given that Numicon is designed for
quality first teaching for all children whereas the other programmes
are specifically designed for intervention.
• We have now
trained 15 of the 21 Every Child Counts Teacher Leaders and we are
optimistic that Numicon may come to be seen as an essential part of
this programme.
Every Child Counts and Barclays Bank involvement
• The Every Child Counts programme, is aimed at children aged seven who have the greatest difficulties with numbers.
• The Every Child a Chance Trust wants businesses to help raise £6m to support the programme.
• They want local businesses to make annual contributions of £12,000 each, for three years, to schools in their area.
• Businesses will also be encouraged to supply volunteers to become "Number Partners", to help children with their sums.
• Barclays Bank has signed on to be the first national sponsor for the project, pledging £1.2m
Useful Links and Downloads
Read the Every Child a Chance Trust Press release
