Mindset Maths

"The first days of class and even the first hours of the first day are a great time to establish classroom norms. I often start my own classes just telling students what I do and do not value. I tell them that:

• I believe in every one of them, that there is no such thing as a maths brain or a maths gene, and that I expect all of them to achieve at the highest levels
  
  
• I love mistakes. Every time they make a mistake their brain grows
  
  
• Failure and struggle do not mean that they cannot do maths – these are the most important parts of maths and learning
  
  
• I don’t value students working quickly; I value their working in depth, creating interesting pathways and representations
  
  
• I love students' questions and will put these onto posters that I hang on the walls for the whole class to think about"
  
  
Jo Boaler

Growth mindset in Scottish education

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is about improving the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland. The act is wide-ranging and includes key parts of the Getting it Right for Every Child approach, commonly known as GIRFEC.

Wellbeing sits at the heart of GIRFEC and reflects the need to tailor the support and help that children, young people and their parents are offered to support their wellbeing.

In 2016, ‘Transforming Scotland into a maths positive nation’ was published by the Making Maths Count Group – a copy of the report can be downloaded from here .

This has been followed by publication of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in 2019 showing a trend in the wrong direction – further details here .

Activity 1

Making Maths Count

Making Maths Count is an initiative set up by the Scottish Government with the joint aims to encourage public enthusiasm for maths and support teachers to raise attainment in maths and numeracy.

Over 3000 people responded to an online questionnaire on public attitudes to maths. Those expressing a negative opinion of maths perceived the subject as “difficult and demanding”, “linked to feelings of anxiety or inadequacy”, “highly judgemental” whilst invoking a “fear of failure” and “reluctance to engage further to protect self-confidence”.

Further research was carried out with three focus groups. Young people in P4 – P7 were positive about maths but wanted to understand how it will be useful to them later in life. They were also aware of their family members’ feelings towards maths, positively and negatively. S1 – S6 pupils wanted to see the relevance of the topics taught (e.g. algebra) to everyday life. Parents and adult learners wished they had known earlier in life how much maths impacts their daily lives, especially without consciously being aware of 'doing' maths.

The ‘Transforming Scotland into a maths positive nation’ report highlights some of the key issues among young people learning maths in Scotland and specifically states that one of the challenges is ‘the belief that some people are “naturally” or “innately” good at maths and others are not’.

The paper then goes on to recommend a “greater enthusiasm for maths as a vital life skill amongst children and young people, parents and carers and the wider public”.

Activity 2

Scotland’s National Improvement Framework

Scotland’s National Improvement Framework's vision is an education system which delivers both excellence and equity in equal measure for all children in Scotland. The current priorities for the National Improvement Framework are:

1. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy;
2. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children;
3. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing; and
4. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people.
   

The teaching of mathematics has a key role in all of these priorities, however often, the education system itself is seen as a barrier to achieving these priorities.

Due to intrinsic pressures from Scottish Government, local authorities and school senior management, in addition to that from parents and pupils, the role of the maths teacher is to ensure all pupils achieve the highest level of qualification possible. Given the format of maths assessment, this is ultimately through a final high-stake exam.

The danger with this is that the teaching and learning focus is on exam requirements as opposed to deep conceptual understanding, which would allow for the application of skills learned. Follow the link here to explore how Britain and the US are the worst culprits for educating students just to pass an exam.

There should also be a consideration for how well students are being prepared for life after school. Research from the International Baccalaureate Organisation found that the single attribute that's most often missing in students is the ability to think and learn independently (further information here ).

It's very important to encourage pupils to identify and learn from a range of different learning sources. Now watch a video from our friends at www.youcubed.org where young people explain their thoughts on when they only follow a text book.

Activity 3

Seeing maths as a creative subject within curriculum for excellence

For maths to positively impact on the employment sector, there is growing calls for maths to be seen as a creative subject, one that young people can relate to and identify as being relevant to their long term ambitions – but are we really teaching maths as a creative subject?

This is a misconception, according to Jo Boaler, with the result that “traditional, faulty and ineffective teaching has been allowed to continue”.

It is argued that our view of maths should change so that it is seen not as a closed, fixed body of knowledge but an open landscape that learners can explore, question and think about relationships.

In the first video from Ayliean MacDonald's (online channel here) she discusses how a young person’s creativity can sometimes be squashed by teachers – and how to embrace the challenge.

In the second video below, Leonard Mlodinow sheds some light on to how the brain reacts when faced with a puzzle or a problem, what he refers to as elastic thinking (focus particularly on the first 15 minutes of the video, however the remainder of the video will provide deeper insight). The brain throws up associations not all of which are at the conscious level. Then various filter systems decide on what enters your consciousness. Therefore, a brain which is too conventional can filter out possible solutions and “you’ll never have a creative thought”.

In the third video, Sir Ken Robinson discusses academic inflation and a need to rethink the definitions of intelligence. He describes intelligence as being diverse, dynamic and distinct. He also describes creativity as “original ideas that have value”.

The fourth video shows examples from the United States detailing an education system in which cheating has become commonplace; students have become disengaged; stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant; and young people arrive at university or the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Watch the trailer for the film ‘race to nowhere’.

Activity 4

Closing the poverty-related attainment gap

Whether through the Scottish Attainment Challenge or Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) the intention is to achieve equity in Scottish education. This can be achieved by ensuring every child has the same opportunity to succeed, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge was launched by the First Minister in February 2015. It is underpinned by The National Improvement Framework, Curriculum for Excellence and Getting it Right for Every Child.

It focuses on improvement activity in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing in specific areas of Scotland. It will also support and complement the broader range of initiatives and programmes to ensure that all of Scotland's children and young people reach their full potential.

As outlined by the OECD, the link between socio-economic disadvantage, academic attainment and job prospects is a global issue. In Scotland, various measures have been taken over the years to attempt to break the seemingly inevitable intergenerational cycle of poverty and to address a lack of ‘positive and sustained destinations’. There remains a strong correlation between a pupil’s socio-economic status and their educational attainment. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds have a higher chance of not succeeding in school.

“There is clear evidence of a persistent gap in attainment between pupils from the richest and poorest households in Scotland.” Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Read the following document to further understand how deprivation has been shown to have a significant impact on attainment.

• Closing the Attainment Gap in Scottish Education
  

Now watch the video showing Clyde Valley High School Headteacher, Nick Quail, explaining his thoughts on how mindset can be used to bridge the gap and raise attainment.

Activity 5

Transition from primary to secondary school

The move from the familiar surroundings, staff and routines of primary school to a new building replete with new schedules, teachers and expectations of high school is a big change for all young people. Whilst some take this move in their stride, others find it stressful and overwhelming.

In order to ensure a smooth transition for all children, there are certain key areas, which if addressed appropriately, can mitigate many of the anxieties felt by new pupils. Key consideration should be given to pedagogy, language and expectations (pace and challenge) as research has shown that where these areas are developed through cross sector work, children feel settled quicker.

The data analysis revealed five aspects of a successful transition. A successful transition for children involved:

1. developing new friendships and improving their self-esteem and confidence
2. having settled so well in school life that they caused no concerns to their parents
3. showing an increasing interest in school and school work
4. getting used to their new routines and school organisation with great ease
5. experiencing curriculum continuity
   

It is important to note at this point the difference between induction and transition as many of the points above are in relation to the induction process.

• Definition of Induction - the action or process of inducting someone to a post or organisation
  
  Induction within most schools will be organised events or taster sessions/days to allow children to come together and meet each other and staff, and become familiar with the school surroundings.
  
  
• Definition of Transition - the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another
  
  Transition on the other hand is a longer process and should be more of a gradual change from one state to another. Transition looks at how children currently work, the pedagogy used, the pace and challenge they experience and how to close the gap between primary and secondary in terms of pedagogy, language and expectations.
  
  

Curriculum continuity has a massive impact of children and young people settling into high school. This will allow them to recognise the relevance of their previous learning (shared language), continue with their progression (as opposed to starting from scratch) and recognise that expectations of pace and presentation of work has not changed.

When related directly to the learning of maths, research by Deborah Ball suggests that lack of confidence with mathematical terminology underpins a lot of confidence issues on the part of a teachers and pupils (e.g., why doesn’t the number 3 count as “even” since it’s 2 x 1.5, or why doesn’t the number 1 count as “prime” since its only divisors are 1 and itself, which is again 1).

It is now time to move onto unit three where we will explore further how maths can be a creative, expressive subject.