National Numeracy Day is needed to help improve the UK’s maths skills
Many adults in the UK, through no fault of their own, don’t have the numeracy skills needed in everyday work and life. Less than half (49 per cent) of UK working-age adults currently possess the numeracy levels expected of primary school children.
This is having a significant impact on their happiness and their day-to-day lives. From not being able to help their children with maths homework, to struggling with tasks at work, it is clear that poor numeracy impacts individuals both at home and in the workplace.
But this isn’t a societal issue just for our educators and government to care about. As business leaders, we need to step in and help. Having a wide pool of numerically confident talent to recruit from is fundamental for our future success.
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Not having basic skills discourages otherwise talented people from applying for roles, and prevents them from fulfilling their potential. It also impacts the UK on the world stage. Unless we tackle this numeracy deficit, we risk becoming less competitive. We know our talent is a key benefit to attracting multinationals, and the associated investment they bring.
We need to give people the confidence and opportunities to brush up their skills, and help them gain new ones. This is why KPMG is supporting the first National Numeracy Day on 16 May. Working with the charity National Numeracy, KPMG will deploy numeracy toolkits we’ve developed to 3,000 schools via our partnership with the WE charity.
These toolkits will help schools engage students with their careers and aspirations through the prism of numeracy. We’re also encouraging our suppliers to share the National Numeracy Day resources that will help people test their current levels of numeracy, address any gaps, and improve their confidence.
This is not the first time we’ve campaigned to improve essential skills – we’re proud to have a long history of working with disadvantaged young people. Our community programmes work with tens of thousands of young people each year to drive the essential skills required in a rapidly changing world of work. By 2022, we aim to directly support 75,000 beneficiaries, with numeracy and literacy continuing to play a central role within our education outreach to promote social mobility across the UK.
The KPMG Foundation is committed to helping children from the most challenging socio-economic backgrounds, and has already reached more than 50,000 primary school children with its Every Child Counts and Every Child a Reader programmes. We are now looking to broaden the scope of our efforts to adults who are also held back by poor numeracy and literacy skills.
Improving numeracy levels is important not just because it is the right thing to do. It also makes good business sense. If we are to solve the UK’s long-standing productivity puzzle, improving basic skills in the workforce will be crucial.
With the changes we expect to see in the next five to 10 years, it is clear that a highly capable workforce will be vital to the success of our future economy.
To remain competitive on the global stage, we need to ensure that everyone in this country, regardless of background, can fulfil their potential.
Businesses have a vital role to play in supporting our communities, and helping people understand the benefits of improved numeracy, both in their work and home lives.
We have a shared responsibility to ensure that everyone has the same chance and opportunity to succeed.
No single initiative can solve the problem alone, but if business, policymakers, educationalists, and society work together to ensure that everyone has the essential skills they need to succeed, the rewards to UK business could be enormous – supporting National Numeracy Day is the best way to start.
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