ABSTRACT
Having worked with both adults and children for over 35 years, this chapter explores the author’s own experiences and reflections on working with learners who are genuinely afraid of mathematics. Hence, it is written in the first person. Having always loved mathematics herself, she was surprised when she started teaching that not everyone shared her passion for the subject. In her roles as head of department, local authority consultant and university lecturer, she has worked with a range of adults within primary education who have all demonstrated a polarisation of views towards mathematics, from loving and embracing the subject to being afraid of it. In this chapter, she reflects on her experiences, to provide an insight into why it might be seen to be acceptable to be ‘bad’ at mathematics and how understanding these experiences has helped her to support anxious learners in moving forward. She focuses on how improving the experiences and confidence of adults who are working within schools might also improve the life chances of the pupils they work with. The chapter culminates in the identification of seven principles for supporting adults learning mathematics, with the aim of improving confidence and understanding in the subject.
Issues raised in this chapter include the following:
the nature of mathematics anxiety and how it manifests itself;
the implications for educators who are anxious about mathematics who have to teach the subject themselves; and
how those educators might be supported in overcoming their anxieties.
