Making Maths Count final report

The Scottish Government will launch a new drive to improve maths skills following the final report from the Making Maths Count group.

Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed the Scottish Government had accepted all ten recommendations made in the report to transform Scotland into a maths positive nation and work would begin to implement them as soon as possible.

The main focus of the group was to identify practical ways to encourage greater enthusiasm and enjoyment of maths.

The report’s ten recommendations came under three main themes:

• Transforming public attitudes to maths
• Improving confidence and fluency in maths for children, young people, parents and all those who deliver maths education to raise attainment and achievement
• Promoting the value of maths as an essential skill for every career

Mr Swinney said: “Education is at the heart of this government’s work and the First Minister reiterated our commitment to closing the attainment gap in last week’s Programme for Government.

“Improving the numeracy skills of our children and young people is a key part of what we are doing to drive up attainment and today’s report gives us ten clear recommendations which we support and will consider how they can be implemented.

“The recommendations will complement the work we are already undertaking to improve numeracy skills, including increased investment in the Attainment Scotland Fund and our Read Write Count campaign.

“It is encouraging to see so many examples in the report of the good work already taking place in classrooms to improve maths and I hope they, and the actions we will take following this report, will inspire more schools across Scotland.”

Maureen McKenna, Executive Director of Education in Glasgow, and chair of the group, said:

“We believe that everyone, whatever their circumstances in life, has the ability to become proficient at maths. Our research and engagement work with teachers, pupils and the general public shows that the way to achieve this is to make maths more relevant to real life and work and more enjoyable. Our recommendations build upon the best work taking place within Scotland and elsewhere and aim to transform Scotland into a maths-positive nation.”