Maths

Celebrating the difference we make: Support our Christmas Challenge today

3 December 2024

We’re thrilled to be taking part in this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge. For our fifth time taking part, we aim to raise £12,000 to symbolise 12 years of our impactful programme delivery!

How it works

The Christmas Challenge is hosted by the Big Give and is the UK’s largest ‘match-funding’ campaign. Every donation made during campaign week, which takes place between Tuesday 3rd to 10th of December, is doubled by the ‘match-fund’ pot, added to by generous pledgers and our champion funders, The EQ Foundation. This means, during campaign week, one donation makes double the difference!

This festive season, can you support us to tackle educational inequality?

Opening doors to future opportunities

At Action Tutoring, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential. We are working hard towards making this mission a reality by harnessing the power of volunteer tutors.

This year, we’re honouring our amazing volunteers with our #TheDifferenceWeMake theme. By giving just one hour a week, our tutors make a significant difference to the lives and futures of children and young people, helping them to overcome challenges, build confidence, and achieve their goals.

Watch our video

Click and play our video below to hear inspiring stories from our tutors about their most impactful moments.

Why we need your support

The attainment gap is the widest it has been in 12 years. Exacerbated by the pandemic, disadvantaged pupils are 19 months behind their more affluent peers by the end of secondary school.

A solution to combating the attainment gap? Tutoring. We know that high-quality and focussed tuition can make a huge impact on the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. Nationally in 2023, just 52% of disadvantaged pupils passed maths GCSE. This increases to 65% after at least 10 sessions of our tutoring support.

By coming together, we can work towards our vision of a world in which a child’s life chances are free from any limits of their socio-economic background.

Donate to our Christmas Challenge today

Each year, thousands of brilliant volunteer tutors help us make a difference by giving their time. To truly maximise our impact, we also rely on the power of donations. Your generous donation, however big or small, will directly fund vital programmes resources:

  • High-quality maths or English workbooks: Providing pupils with engaging and effective learning materials.
  • Noise-cancelling headphones: Vital for pupils to concentrate during online sessions.
  • Enhanced DBS checks for volunteer tutors: Ensuring the proper safeguarding of all pupils and staff.

If you’re unable to make a donation, you can support our cause by spreading the word. Share this blog with friends, family, and on your social media platforms, using our hashtag #TheDifferenceWeMake.

Thank you for your support and kindness this festive season. Together, we can make a difference and inspire change.

Numeracy Day: Solving England’s maths equation

17 May 2023

What is National Numeracy Day?

17th May is the national day set aside to campaign for building brighter futures through building confidence with numbers and everyday maths skills. It is aimed at raising the low levels of numeracy among both children and adults.

The broader vision of the National Numeracy Day campaign is for everyone in the UK “to get on with numbers so they can get on in life.”​ 

The day is especially topical this year after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s controversial maths attainment policy proposal requiring school pupils in England to study maths until age 18.

More recently, Sunak announced a review of the mathematics curriculum across England, tasking a group of advisers to examine the core maths content currently taught in schools and share recommendations by summer.

Doing the maths

Numeracy levels in the UK are significantly lower as compared to other developed nations. About half, representing 49%, of the working-age population of the UK have the expected numeracy level of a primary school child – according to the 2022 UK Numeracy Index

With 30% of school-leavers between ages 18–24 feeling anxious about using maths and numbers, it means millions of children lack number confidence and are likely to start out their careers at a disadvantage. Additionally, poor numeracy costs the UK economy up to £25 billion a year.

A pupil solving a maths problem

Why numeracy is important

Numeracy provides children and young people with valuable tools for daily life, problem-solving, career opportunities, data interpretation, logical thinking, and future readiness.

  • Numeracy skills are fundamental for managing personal finances, budgeting, and making informed decisions about spending and saving money. Children who are numerically literate are better equipped to handle financial challenges and make responsible choices throughout their lives.
  • They enhance logical reasoning and problem-solving abilities. Mathematics encourages critical thinking, logical analysis, and the ability to break down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts in real-life situations.
  • Strong numeracy skills open up a wide range of career opportunities, including fields such as science, engineering, finance, data analysis, and technology. By developing these skills, children and young people increase their chances of success in these fields.

Solving the big maths problem

The lingering problem that will beset the proposed national maths agenda is the deficit of maths teachers. In practice, the policy may not yield the intended results as the Department for Education (DfE) have fallen short of recruitment targets in the last decade, despite being lowered since 2019.

Hence, the key obstacle to solving the low numeracy problem is the critical shortage of specialist maths teachers and that could undermine maths education in schools in England.

Almost half of secondary schools have had to fall on a non-specialist to teach maths lessons in schools and about one in eight maths lessons (12%) are taught by someone without a maths degree.

The lack of quantity and quality of teacher applicants and budget pressures remain the stumbling blocks to improving teacher recruitment. For Mr. Sunak’s maths formula to be workable, the government should develop a renewed focus on improving teacher recruitment and retention.

The introduction of special incentives to ramp up the volume of maths teacher applications, including improved pay and working conditions and bursaries for training and quality improvement measures, could collectively help the situation. Without increasing the number of maths teachers, the numeracy problem will continue to persist.

Take action this National Numeracy Day

National Numeracy Day line up of events

This year’s National Numeracy Day campaign has a line-up of activities across social media with several celebrity ambassadors joining the online conversation to share their number stories.

Join the campaign by signing up to access resources and be part of activities via this link: National Numeracy Day 2023 sign-up.

Also, another way to take action beyond the day is to volunteer as a maths tutor and help disadvantaged pupils improve their numeracy skills and abilities. Action Tutoring provides all the resources and training to help you give maths support to young people for an hour each week, either online or face-to-face in schools.

The far-reaching impact of numeracy

Overall, the benefits of numeracy and mathematics are significant and far-reaching, making it a crucial skill to cultivate. Improving numeracy early in life, particularly for those who are falling behind in school, is critical to bridging the attainment gap between poorer and wealthy students.