How can an adults outlook on mathematics impact on a child’s education?

A child’s mathematics experience and learning can be massively impacted on by an adult’s opinion. If a teacher shows a negative outlook on the subject it can impact the child. A lot of children say that they dislike maths and this is often because they hear negative talk about the subject. Negative attitudes towards maths are damaging, leading to disengagement, increased anxiety and a lack of confidence, and a hesitancy to try to improve skills. After reading an article on Parent Attitudes Influence Their Children's Attitudes Toward Math and Science, I have come to realise that parents are very stereotypical when it comes to buying specific toys, games and books for boys related to maths and science. When it comes to learning maths in school, boys are often more adept to the subject than girls due to the advantages of these gender specific games and books. It is culturally acceptable in the UK to be negative about maths, in a way that we don’t talk about other life skills. We hear ‘I can’t do maths’ so often it doesn’t seem a strange thing to say (Kowsun, 2008). Maths is seen as the remit of ‘mad scientists’, ‘nerdy’ boys, and the socially inept (Epstein et al, 2010). We talk about maths as though it is a genetic gift possessed only by a rare few, and inaccessible to the general public.

References:

Gifted Child Today, (2008) Parent Attitudes Influence Their Children's Attitudes Toward Math and Science, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 9.

Kowsun, J. 2008. This innumerate isle – Online at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2033102 [Accessed 11.1.19].

Epstein, D., Mendick, H., Moreau, M.-P., (2010). Imagining the mathematician: young people talking about popular representations of maths. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31, 45–60.