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Numeracy

March 2025

  • Busy woman at home reading something on her laptop

    Science Weekly
    Use it or lose it: how to sharpen your brain as you age – podcast

    Many of us believe that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of ageing, but a new study looking at how our skills change with age challenges that idea. Ian Sample talks to Ludger Wößmann, a professor of economics at the University of Munich, about the study
    Podcast14:03

October 2023

  • A gloved hand holding a new £2 coin with a floral design

    double quotation markShiny new coins to teach numeracy? I doubt kids will give a toss

    Michael Hogan
    Coinage marking the reign of King Charles III has been designed to help children identify numbers and learn to count. The problem is, they have no idea what physical money is

July 2023

  • A child looking at a maths textbook

    Sats attainment in English primary schools still below pre-Covid levels

    Proportion of children meeting expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined matches 2022 figure of 59%

April 2023

  • A person writes calculations on a notepad alongside a calculator

    DfE quietly shelves plans for £100m online adult learning platform

    Exclusive: Critics denounce Rishi Sunak’s push to improve adult numeracy as ‘empty rhetoric’ after centrepiece is ditched
  • Rishi Sunak is being investigated by the standards commissioner.

    Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
    No 10 refuses to say when Rishi Sunak first declared wife’s shareholding in childminder agency – as it happened

    PM’s spokesperson also refuses to say when updated register of ministers’ interests would be published
  • Rishi Sunak visits a secondary school in London in January.

    ‘Anti-maths mindset’ costs UK a huge sum, Rishi Sunak claims

    PM urges Britain to prize numeracy, but critics say such talk counts for nothing without a funded plan

March 2023

  • Jackie McCann

    double quotation markThe world can be overwhelming for children – that’s why I’ve reduced it to 100 people

    Jackie McCann
    My book makes daunting statistics easy to understand, opening young people up to different ways of thinking about the world, says children’s writer Jackie McCann

January 2023

  • Three school children doing math equations on the blackboard

    The problems created by Sunak’s maths lessons

    Letters: Readers remain unconvinced by the prime minister’s plan for students to study maths until the age of 18
  • John Crace

    The politics sketch
    double quotation markNew year, not so new Rish giving the people what they want … extra maths!

    John Crace
    Thanks to the prime minister and the genius idea nobody asked for, people will be able to calculate just how broke they are
  • Teacher with class at school in London

    Rishi Sunak to propose maths for all pupils up to age 18

    PM to set out plan to enhance numeracy for pupils in England in first policy speech of 2023

May 2022

  • Fireworks explode behind the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, during New Year's Eve celebrations in London, Britain, January 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

    The shifting patterns of English
    double quotation markMay I have a word about … how headline hyperbole has taken an explosive turn

    Jonathan Bouquet
    ‘Rocket’ was once good enough as a metaphor, but now the ante has been firmly upped skywards

March 2022

  • Nadhim Zahawi

    Zahawi’s English schools white paper leaves many in sector underwhelmed

    Hopes were high after blunders of Williamson’s tenure, but 60-page vision for future offers little to inspire

June 2020

  • Madeline Held

    Other lives
    Madeline Held obituary

    Other Lives: Educationist who gave London’s Language and Literacy Unit a national focus

May 2020

  • Shop advertising face masks for sale

    double quotation markNumeracy skills are vital as we emerge from the coronavirus crisis

    Andy Haldane
    The Bank of England’s chief economist argues that maths is more essential than ever

May 2019

  • Fiona Millar

    double quotation markCorbyn’s promise to abolish Sats is merely a crowd pleaser

    Fiona Millar
    Those who cheer Labour’s plan to end primary school testing forget how we failed pupils in the good old 90s

February 2018

  • Schools minister Nick Gibb

    Schools minister Nick Gibb refuses to answer 'what is 8 x 9?' on TV

  • A primary school pupil works on his times tables

    Times table tests to be trialled in primary schools in March

July 2017

  • Cartoon of Mark Carney and Mario Draghi reading horror stories, their shadows casting alarming shadows on an interest rate chart.

    Business leader
    double quotation markHorror stories told by central bankers will not end in an interest rate shock

    Traders got into a panic about impending rate increases last week, but they have taken fright too soon

January 2017

  • Man with binoculars peering through a pattern of ones and zeros

    double quotation markIn a post-truth world, statistics could provide an essential public service

    John Pullinger
    Statisticians can now amass more data more quickly than ever. This could help us to make decisions based on real numbers, not prejudice

May 2016

  • Emperor penguin colony

    How to teach ...
    How to teach ... statistics

    Whether it is stem and leaf diagrams or school litter surveys, here are some resources to help your students understand and interrogate figures
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