Foreword
Crispin Chatterton explains how maths anxiety impacts learning and confidence and how the New Group Maths Test addresses this through targeted interventions, personalised support, and teacher expertise
Careful Calculation: Addressing maths anxiety in the classroom
Our new report highlights the current state of maths education and significant challenges such as maths anxiety, gender confidence gaps, curriculum overload, and lack of support at home.
Our nationwide survey of over 1,000 teachers, two-thirds of whom teach or have taught maths, showed that:
- Maths anxiety was cited as the biggest obstacle to learning by the majority of teachers
- Half think girls make slower progress than boys because they are too keen to avoid making mistakes
- But lack of confidence, lack of support at home and lack of relevance are also blamed
The main findings of our survey are included in this report, but teachers have told us that they would find any measures that help reduce maths anxiety and allow for more nuanced assessment useful. So, elsewhere in this report, we outline how our adaptive New Group Maths Test can simplify the assessment process while providing key insights for teachers and more targeted interventions for students.
