Maths anxiety is in the zeitgeist

In the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment survey, 40 per cent of 15-year-olds agreed with the statement “I get very tense when I have to do maths homework”, and 35 per cent said they “get very nervous doing mathematics problems”.

Cue articles on maths anxiety, government guidance on addressing it and a crop of professional learning programs that target it.

Clearly, maths anxiety is in the Zeitgeist. But what exactly is it, and how should we fix it?

What is maths anxiety, and how does it hold students back?

Maths anxiety is adverse feelings towards maths. It usually develops in response to feelings of “I’m no good at maths”.

Research shows that students can get caught in a negative spiral: those who do poorly in maths tend to feel anxious about it, which adversely affects their future performance. Girls may be particularly at-risk of developing maths anxiety.

Its prevalence should worry us, because confidence and competence with maths matters for students’ futures.

Adults use maths every day, whether it’s to compare grocery prices, pay bills or interpret statistics in the news.

Adults with weak maths skills are more likely to struggle with employment, have poor mental health and suffer homelessness.

When students feel anxious about maths, it can impede their performance.

While a little stress is actually helpful — it means we care and helps us focus — too much stress jams up our working memory, which we need to solve maths problems.

Students with high anxiety might make careless errors, misinterpret questions or sit staring vacantly at a maths problem, too overwhelmed to start.

Strategies that build early success and confidence

Maths anxiety tends to develop early, so one of the best defences against it is early success in maths. That’s why great teaching from day one of primary school is so important.

The good news is nearly all students can experience the sugar hit of success when learning foundational maths skills, such as numeral recognition, counting, and addition and subtraction facts.

This will set them up for success when maths gets more difficult, such as when they first need to do subtraction with multi-digit numbers.

Maths is highly hierarchical, so getting the foundations right will pay dividends for students’ future skills and confidence in maths.

The best way to teach primary maths well is to do it systematically.

Teachers should explicitly teach new content, providing students with lots of worked examples; they should give students lots of opportunities to practise, including to develop their fluency with maths facts such as time tables; and they should create opportunities for students to apply their knowledge to novel problems and unfamiliar scenarios.

Schools should also ensure they have high-quality catch-up support for students who need it.

Schools and teachers need more support to deliver great teaching

Recent Grattan Institute research shows that many Australian schools need extra support to embed systematic maths teaching in all classrooms.

Our survey of 1,745 primary teachers found that about one in five worried more about teaching maths than other subjects. This reflects research showing that some soon-to-graduate trainee teachers have low skill levels and confidence in maths.

It’s important to turn this around, because teachers may pass their negative perceptions of maths onto their students.

There are three key things governments should do to help.

First, students and teachers benefit when maths is taught with high-quality curriculum materials. They provide a road map for teachers, which can be a lifeline for those who feel ill-at-ease with maths, and they give students a better shot at experiencing success in maths.

But only two in five primary teachers we surveyed said their school used the same maths textbooks or lesson materials across classes.

Better information on the quality of materials is vital, so Australia should have an independent body to review curriculum materials.

Second, governments need to give primary teachers more support to build their confidence in teaching maths.

Australia has dabbled in professional learning but hasn’t yet invested in the rigorous, sustained efforts needed. Professional learning is rarely sustained and often in the form of one-off workshops. But even longer-form professional learning is not subject to rigorous quality assurance.

We should look to England’s National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) — including the 12-month Leading Primary Maths course — which undergo independent inspection to ensure high quality.

Third, Australian governments should establish Maths Hubs across the country to provide on-the-ground support to teachers.

Taking inspiration from England’s hubs model, Australia should fund high-performing schools to be demonstration schools, deliver practical training and provide intensive support to lower-performing schools.

Students should not avoid maths

We should avoid the temptation to allow students to avoid maths if they feel anxious about it. This isn’t supported by the research and risks further alienating them from the subject.

We need to be particularly wary of the myth that having students sit maths tests or making them do timed activities causes or worsens maths anxiety. Once students are accurate in a maths skill, they need some timed practice to develop the fluency that’s key to maths success.

The best way to help struggling students overcome maths anxiety is to build their foundations in maths.

In other words, the best way to fix maths anxiety is to teach maths well.