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England to launch drive to improve national numeracy skills

Xinhua, March 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The biggest ever drive to improve numeracy skills in England is to be launched Monday after a survey revealed half of the country's adult working population only have numeracy skills of children aged 11 or younger.

It equates to 17 million men and women in England not having the ability to work out a household budget or check the pay and deductions on a wage slip.

The new initiative, the National Numeracy Challenge, will be a nationwide drive to improve the numeracy skills and confidence of one million adults over the next five years.

The campaign will involve working in workplaces, adult education centers and with voluntary and community organizations.

The campaign will be officially launched Monday when Liverpool will become the first city region area of the country to sign up to the new drive to improve numeracy among adults.

Government figures estimate around 155,000 working-age adults in Liverpool, or just over half, have numeracy skills roughly equivalent to the level expected of children of primary (junior) school age.

National research shows that adults who struggle with numeracy are twice as likely to be unemployed, with numeracy a bigger indicator of disadvantage than literacy.

The research also shows that the gap between the number of people with good levels of literacy and numeracy is growing - up from 18 percent to 35 percent since 2003.

Mike Ellicock, Chief Executive of the National Numeracy Challenge, said: "Being numerate means being able to use numbers and think mathematically, which is essential for so many aspects of everyday life and work. To anyone tempted to say 'I can't do maths', we say 'Yes, you can'. We are delighted that Liverpool is launching the National Numeracy Challenge city wide and we can't wait to see individuals, employers and other organisations getting involved."

Councillor Nick Small, Liverpool's Cabinet Member for Employment and Skills said: "This is a really exciting project and I'm pleased to be part of launching it in Liverpool. We're the first big city to be doing this. Numeracy is so important in everyday situations, like understanding your payslips and bills as well as getting the best shopping deals.

"But it's much, much more important than that because increasingly numeracy is becoming part of more and more jobs. This initiative is about making numeracy accessible for everyone and making it easy and fun to improve your maths skills in a way that works for you."

Also signing up to the National Numeracy Challenge is UK's biggest employee organization, the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Spokeswoman Lynn Collins said: "The TUC has long championed skills and learning opportunities to be made available for everyone in every workplace, and in the wider community. The TUC is signing up to the Numeracy Challenge as well as supporting all trade unions and other employers to do so. Maths skills are vital across the economy and we fully support this initiative. Endit