ABSTRACT
Although this chapter is contextualized mainly within secondary schools, it should also provide a useful background for teachers in the primary phase.
INTRODUCTION
According to the National Curriculum (DfEE/QCA 1999b), numeracy is a key skill, ranked alongside literacy and ICT, underpinning all other school learning. In recent years it has become a topic of great interest to the media, who regularly delight in offering sensation-seeking headlines proving that standards of numeracy are poor.
