Secondary pupils face difficulties with maths, says Whizz.com

May 14 2010

Children in secondary schools are falling behind in maths, according to Richard Marett, chief executive of online maths tuition provider Whizz.com.

"Pupils struggle to relate to what they are learning in front of the whiteboard with relevance to their life and that does have an impact," Mr Marett said.

His comments emerged as a new report said that many secondary teachers fail to place the required emphasis on mental and written calculation, which leads to some pupils falling behind in their numeracy skills.

According to the report by Estyn, the Welsh inspection body, numeracy skills in primary schools are better as children have the opportunity to use their knowledge across the subject range.

Education inspectors recommended teachers to give pupils the opportunity to use their numeracy skills in "real life" situations.

"A lot of children struggle to make that jump from what seems quite real and quite natural to them, to something that is quite abstract," Mr Marett added.

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