Of all the subjects we learn at school, maths is probably one that we end up using regularly in daily life, whether this involves working-out percentages, assessing quantities, helping children with homework, controlling machinery or systems. But many people describe themselves  as ‘not a maths person’ and see maths as something of a barrier. This may be simply because it is a long time since they learned maths at school or because maths didn’t engage them or seemed relevant. In fact there around 10 million adults in the UK who could benefit by improving their maths at Level 2 (this being the level we are expected to reach by the end of secondary school).

Citizen Maths is a free, online maths course. It’s been designed for self-motivated adults who want to improve their grasp of maths. Instead of abstract routines, the course uses practical problems to help you grasp and use some “powerful ideas” in maths.  You can then apply these in work and in life. The course covers five such ideas:

• Proportion
• Uncertainty
• Representation
• Pattern
• Measurement

Each idea takes between five and 10 hours to complete. You can spread the work on each idea over several weeks or a few days and also go back over areas that you want to. There is no pressure nor is there anyone looking over your shoulder to see how you are doing. This isn’t a course designed to measure or test your performance, simply one designed to improve your understanding.

Our aim is that by completing the course you will feel more confident with maths in your work or personal life. This video (some of which was shot at the TUC’s Regional Office in Birmingham) has more:

As a ULR you may feel you would like to do Citizen Maths yourself; but it is also likely that you will know other people - at work, or at home - who could benefit. Alternatively it might be useful to simply spread information about the course through your network, so that those who might benefit know how to access the course. In this case we have a leaflet available (https://www.citizenmaths.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Citizen-Maths-poster.pdf) which you can download and send out using email, or else print it out to put it up in the workplace. (You could just email or share on Facebook the link to the leaflet if you prefer, or this link to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX0pMQlUUu4) 

It is important to note that Citizen Maths is not suitable for someone for whom numbers “are a complete blur", instead it is designed to brush-up and make relevant the maths you are likely to have covered at school or college up until the age of around 16. If you want to work-out what your current level of maths capability is, unionlearn’s Use-IT screening tool can help you. 

Your Union or project could also become a Citizen Maths partner, which means that you would be able to monitor how many of your people sign-up and be kept informed about their use of the course. Information on becoming a Citizen Maths partner is available here: https://www.citizenmaths.com/partner/.