Dyscalculic children have been let down for too long
5 min read
There is at least one dyscalculic child in every UK classroom yet diagnosis rates are shockingly low. Raising awareness of this condition on Dyscalculia Day is a vital first step.
If you’ve never heard of dyscalculia, you’re not alone. I first learnt about the condition while researching an answer to a question from my 10-year-old great niece about the impact of Rishi Sunak’s ‘Maths to 18’ plans on pupils like her who, despite strong attainment in other subjects, find maths severely challenging. Since then, I’ve asked pretty much everyone I come across how much they know about dyscalculia. Without exception, the answer has been ‘dys-what?’
The UK’s stubborn problem with low numeracy is not news. Government statistics indicate that 49 per cent of the working-age population have numeracy levels expected of 9 – 11 year olds, with an estimated cost to the economy of £33bn a year. Of this 49 per cent, around 12 per cent have dyscalculia.
Dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental condition with a biological basis: something with which you are born that persists into adulthood. It is characterised by severe difficulties in learning and understanding mathematics despite adequate intellectual ability and age-appropriate education, It affects around 1 in 20 – similar to dyslexia – and yet a dyslexic child is 100 times more likely to be diagnosed and to receive specialist support than a child with dyscalculia.
Dyscalculia is marked by a deficit in number sense—the intuitive grasp of numerical order through which most of us can recognise, for example, that adding two numbers together will result in a larger number. For dyscalculics, this can make as little sense as adding together d and g and trying to determine if the resulting letter is larger or smaller.
It affects around 1 in 20 – similar to dyslexia – and yet a dyslexic child is 100 times more likely to be diagnosed and to receive specialist support than a child with dyscalculia
Without diagnosis and support, the effects of living with dyscalculia are experienced in poor educational, work and health outcomes. Students will be challenged by basic number processing, comparisons and computations and will struggle to achieve the required pass at GCSE. This in turn impacts tertiary education and employment choices, because Maths GCSE acts as a gatekeeper for opportunities in a way that discriminates against those people with dyscalculia: a requirement, for example, to study A level Art or English. Adults will have to navigate a world built on numbers and may struggle with timekeeping and budgeting, making it hard to manage a household or even hold down a job. And dyscalculia is often comorbid with other conditions, including anxiety and mental health issues.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for dyscalculia is the almost complete lack of awareness among policy makers, educators and communities. A 2008 Government Office for Science report recommended that because of its low profile and high impacts, dyscalculia should be raised as a government priority. In the intervening 17 years, little has changed.
There is still no government definition of dyscalculia, scant reference in educational policies and no relevant guidance for dyscalculics, parents or teachers on the Department for Education website. Hansard records a mere 20 mentions across both Houses.
A 2023 survey of UK teachers found that 42.8 per cent were ‘not familiar or slightly familiar’ with dyscalculia, compared to 15.7 per cent when asked about dyslexia. This is extraordinary, given that there is at least one dyscalculic child in every UK classroom and numbers and quantities feature in all subjects, not just maths. And yet without a statutory requirement for teachers – even maths teachers and special needs teachers – to learn about or to identify dyscalculia, it’s hardly surprising.
There is no major dedicated charity in the UK, but the Dyscalculia Network – run voluntarily and founded by two teachers – does excellent work in raising awareness, sharing information and advocating for change. Studies show that targeted interventions can improve outcomes, but this relies on early identification, and it is currently left to local authorities to determine whether or not they assess for dyscalculia. The Network is calling for official government recognition, for dyscalculia to be included in Initial Teacher Training and compulsory screening for dyscalculia at the start of education, perhaps alongside the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. They also want to see alternative approaches to exams and qualifications that don’t lead young people with dyscalculia into a dispiriting cycle of repeated failure. There has been welcome movement on this in recent weeks, with Exam Boards calling for these same reforms and government removing the requirement for over 19s to have a GCSE equivalent maths qualification to access apprenticeships.
In learning about the condition, I’m repeatedly struck that we are so apparently unconcerned about dyscalculia, given its impacts on educational outcomes and career opportunities. Of course individuals will have different levels of maths ability, but we would never accept that a pupil was unable to gain at least the basic skills required for reading and writing. Without these fundamental numeracy tools, children risk being left behind.
Sunak’s ‘Maths to 18’ was a response to the UK’s low numeracy challenge that ignored the realities of learning with dyscalculia and that would, ironically, have exacerbated the issues faced by children with the most severe maths difficulties. His recently announced numeracy charity is very welcome, but I hope that it will work with experts to develop a more nuanced approach to improving numeracy that takes into account the specific challenges of developmental dyscalculia.
Raising awareness of this condition, as Dyscalculia Day aims to do, is the first step towards creating an environment in which all children are given the support they need – and deserve – to fulfil their potential and live the lives they want to lead.
Baroness Bull is a crossbench peer who is working with Dyscalculia Network on raising awareness of the condiiton.
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