Functional Skills Maths - How to overcome your barriers
Posted on 10th May 2022 at 10:18
Maths is a huge barrier for a lot of our learners and can stop learners completing their apprenticeship. But why is this? We explore how your past experience can affect your learning, and how to overcome these barriers.
‘Learned helplessness’ occurs when we let our barriers overcome us, perhaps linked to something that happened in the past
“A child who performs poorly on math tests and assignments will quickly begin to feel that nothing he does will have any effect on his math performance. When later faced with any type of math-related task, he may experience a sense of helplessness.”
Source: Very Well Mind
A poor experience in the past could trigger thoughts such as:
It reminds me of school
I don’t want to do it
I’m rubbish at Maths
It's hard to remember everything
It’s not my apprenticeship area
Just because it might have been like that in school, it doesn't mean it must always be. Think again. Mathematics puts life in order and supports reasoning, abstract thinking, problem solving and sometimes, communication skills. Even when adding up how much you're spending as you walk around the supermarket, we are all 'doing Maths' without knowing it. So, we're not so 'helpless' after all.
Functional Skills are embedded into your apprenticeship and are a common part of any job in retail, customer service or most other industries. Whether that is working out staffing budgets, profit margins or the price of tin of beans
Why is it so important? Apprentices cannot sit their End Point Assessment (EPA) without prior achievement of Maths and English. Even if you have completed your qualification before the apprenticeship, you will be given the opportunity to practise and develop skills in your training sessions
We have some top tips to overcome the barriers:
regular study – make Maths your friend. It takes time to build up confidence
complete past exam paper practice
set yourself time limits for short bursts of study
show your workings out – the journey of how you reached the answer
confide in your trainer about any barriers or worries
commit to change and overcome your own barriers
May 18th 2022 is National Numeracy Day, so why not focus on your apprentices/colleagues who need to study this.
See more at: National Numeracy Day
Celebrate Maths - it is everywhere!
Contact us to find out more about our Maths support.
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