Numeracy is one of the most
important factors in a child’s Education. Numeracy is used in basic everyday
life even without realising. Without basic numeracy skills and child will be
unable to succeed in the real world. The whole point of a child being educated
is for them to grow and succeed and prepare them to live in the real world
outside of a classroom. Donaldson has recommended within his review of the
Welsh school curriculum that Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Competence is to be
taught cross-curricular and I honestly couldn’t agree with this more. The
important of numeracy is tremendous in society from money management, awareness
of space, (being able to park a car), time
awareness and many other day to day tasks. Numeracy is universally acknowledged
to be the essential foundations of education. (Donaldson. 2015. P.6).
Younger generation in this day
and age tend to rely on the technology around them to get through day to day
experiences for example shopping. Not just the younger generation but most of
the population rely on the technology of tills to tell them exactly how much
change to give a customer. The older generation such as our grandparents, never
had that luxury while they were growing therefore knew first hand how important
numeracy is in a child’s education. The older generation were taught in a much more formal setting to this current era
which is completely understandable due to all the research carried out towards
the current day education system. The education system now gives teachers a
massive opportunity to give each and every child the opportunity to learn
numeracy skills not just through a child – teacher classroom setting, but it
has given them the opportunity to teach numeracy through a fun and active way
so each and every child no matter how they learn can grasp the skills they need
is their every day life. Numeracy is easy to interoperate into play and
activities to promote a fun and interactive way of learning for children.
Children growing and developing in the society we live in today needs numeracy
to be able to deal with money management, money handling, time management,
basic measurements and organisation of timetables. With Donaldson’s new
curriculum educators are now able to present theses skills into the formal
school settings while still being enjoyable and memorable for each and every
child, giving them the best opportunities to gaining the best education. By the
child gaining theses skills, it is setting the children up for real life skills
in which employers look out for. Given the children theses skills early on is
setting them up for real life tasks and experience that every person faces. ‘’The
needs of employers and the workplace are also seen as vital if young people are
to move smoothly and successfully into employment. In particular, concerns
about the scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical (STEM)
competences of the future workforce have influenced the relative priority given
to these subjects.’’ (Donaldson. 2015. p.7).
During one of our seminar we
were assigned a task to budget and plan a school party. We had a budget of £100
and had to hire a venue, DJ and as long as it is within the budget we could then
choose whatever else we wanted to do with the party. As a team we decided to
hire a church hall and DJ for two hours. Due to having tight budget we decided to charge admission
for the tickets making us more money to use for the party itself. Throughout this
task we had to work together as a team to make sure we didn’t go over our budget.
This task was actually really fun to participate in as there we four other teams
completing the same task and we had a competition on who can get the most
profit out of the party. Never did I realise how hard it was to plan a party for
school children while still staying within the budget. By completing this task
it gave us a real life perspective on how numeracy is used through every day
life, even down to planning a party. Without numeracy it couldn’t have been
possible for us to realistically stay within the budget we were given.
The ESTYN report state ‘’Numeracy
is not the same as mathematics. Numeracy
is a proficiency with number that is acquired through being taught mathematics
well. Although pupils usually learn
their numeracy skills during mathematics lessons, to be fully numerate they
must be able to apply these skills in other subject areas and real-life
contexts’’. (2010).
Donaldson, G. (2015). Successful
Futures - Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in
Wales.
ESTYN. (2010). Improving numeracy in key stage 2 and 3.
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