The mathematics ability of U.K adults has been called into question lately. Whether it's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak making it compulsory for young people to study some form of Maths until 18, or studies reporting that 4 out of 5 adults have low functional mathematics skills (National Numeracy, 2014), we know that students and adults aren't always fans of maths.
While mathematics is often considered difficult, not all difficulties with the subject arise from cognitive difficulties. Put simply, when faced with a maths problem many children and adults experience maths anxiety, which involves feelings of anxiety, apprehension, tension or discomfort around maths.
Maths anxiety and exam performance
However you don't have to be bad at maths to feel the effects of maths anxiety. According to a study published in 2018, 77% of children with high maths anxiety are normal to high achievers on curriculum maths tests.
“Because these children perform well at tests, their maths anxiety is at high risk of going unnoticed by their teachers and parents, who may only look at performance but not at emotional factors,” says Dr Amy Devine, the 2018 study’s first author. “But their anxiety may keep these students away from STEM fields for life when in fact they would be perfectly able to perform well in these fields.”
What can we do to help those with maths anxiety?
Worryingly it is almost always the case that people with greater maths anxiety perform worse than their true maths ability, which can lead to a vicious circle: maths anxiety leading to poorer performance and poorer performance increasing maths anxiety.
However parents and teachers can take the following measures to help students struggling with maths anxiety:
Be conscious that this anxiety likely affects maths performance.
Maths anxiety can be infectious: a parent or another child’s maths anxiety can influence how another student feels about maths.
Gender-based stereotypes about maths are also likely to influence maths performance.
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