Mathematics — A Special Case?

Abstract

Is there a special case to be made for the inclusion of mathematics in a book such as this? It could be argued that no, it is just one of a range of subjects which are important in young children’s education. I would not disagree but I decided to spotlight it for three reasons:

• 1) Throughout the world mathematics is considered to be of crucial importance and, as a result, governments tend to place tremendous pressure on the teaching profession to ensure that standards are as high as possible. Laughingly, Debra said that there was no place to hide if you are not very good at teaching mathematics, adding,

  It sounds awful but if you’re not that confident in teaching PE you can usually pull a PE lesson out of the bag if you know what the components of a good lesson are. The same was not at all the case for mathematics.

• 2) In the United Kingdom the same could be said of English, but if you think about it, and, as alluded to below, many individuals seem far more anxious about mathematics than English, making it a greater challenge for headteachers to manage. Indeed, Margaret Brown and her colleagues (2008) went so far as to write a paper entitled, ‘“I would rather die”: reasons given by 16-year-olds for not continuing their study of mathematics.’