ABSTRACT
Children’s and adults’ mathematical knowledge frequently appears to be in a state of crisis – a crisis of skills or a crisis of creativity. In the UK and the USA, there are now waves of enthusiasm for basic skills, mental arithmetic and target setting. Studies comparing England’s performance in mathematics with other countries have shown England to be performing relatively poorly in comparison with others. For example, evidence from the Third International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) indicated that our Year 5 pupils (aged 9 and 10) were among the lowest performers in key areas of number out of nine countries with similar social and cultural backgrounds (Harris, Keys and Fernandes, 1997). A huge, multi-million pound National Numeracy Strategy is now underway in the UK and in its first report (DfEE, 1998), the TIMSS studies were cited as one reason for the new focus on numeracy.
