Every Child Counts
A three year research and development phase has resulted in the successful Every Child Counts programme which helps fund highly-skilled Numbers Count teachers in primary schools, who provide intensive numeracy teaching to seven year old children most in need. Wider spin-offs for numeracy levels for all children in the schools supported are also gained, as a result of the support provided by the expert teachers to class teachers, teaching assistants, parents and volunteers.
The vision is that every child who needs early numeracy support receives it and that the numbers of people experiencing long term numeracy difficulty are dramatically reduced. Funders of the development programme were: Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, KPMG and Man Group are major donors, as are the Mercers’ Company and charitable foundations set up by business philanthropists - Eureka, SHINE, Sofronie, the Charles Dunstone Trust and the Private Equity Foundation. These donors knew that it is in the interests of business and the economy that everyone is numerate and financially literate.
Why the programme was developed:
- 15 million adults in the UK have very poor numeracy skills
- One in six companies currently have to provide remedial mathematics classes
- Numeracy failure starts early – each year over 30,000 eleven year olds (over 5% of their age group) leave primary school with numeracy skills at or below the level expected of the average seven year old
- Numeracy failure carries high social costs – the proportion of the prison population with very poor numeracy skills, for example, is even greater than the proportion with poor literacy skills. A recent KPMG report estimates that £1 spent on Every Child Counts will save the public purse between £12 and £19.
Results of Every Child Counts
The programme has shown that it can catch children up after just a few weeks of daily 1-1 specialist teaching. The children taught – the very lowest achieving children in their age group - make over four times the normal rate of progress – 14 months progress in ‘Number Age’ over just 20 hours of 1-1 teaching over a three month period. They make an average gain of 15 standardised score points on a standardised test of numeracy skills. They also show a 21% improvement in confidence and attitudes to learning. Follow up six months after the end of the 1-1 teaching shows that the children taught made an average seven month gain in Number Age– in other words,they continue to make an above average rate of progress when back in class.
Standards in Every Child Counts schools have been shown to rise for all children, not just those directly taught, because of the presence of a skilled numeracy expert in the school.
Documents for download
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15 million adults in the UK have very poor numeracy skills