Skip to main content

Blog

Champion! 1000 Numeracy Champions trained

8 Jun 2023

This blog comes from Iain Evans, National Numeracy Training Officer 

If you were to ask us what excites us at National Numeracy, we’d say sharing the message that maths learning is for everyone.

We train Numeracy Champions every week in our ’Becoming a Numeracy Champion’ sessions, to help spread the word across the UK that you can beat your fears and get working on the skills you really need to get on in life and work. We recently reached the amazing milestone of 1000 trained Numeracy Champions. 

1000 numeracy champions

Here's what some of our Numeracy Champions have to say:

“The Numeracy Champion role has been incredible for me, and I’m so glad I took a chance on it as it’s really helped me to change the way I think about maths, and to be helping others to do the same is really special.” 

“I love that there's no pressure; being a Champion isn't about how good you are at maths, it's just about being able to talk about it and recognising the value.” 

“I felt the most useful part was seeing the sheer volume of help/resources offered to everyone that I wouldn't have been aware of without this training.” 

Maths anxiety is prevalent in our society and holds many back in their careers and lives.  Research shows that 78% of adults are working below Level 2 in maths, and 49% have the numeracy skills expected of a primary school child. 

Numeracy Champions do not teach maths. Instead, they talk positively with people who feel anxious about maths and inspire them to share their experiences​. They promote and support a positive approach towards numbers and help adults take the first steps in improving their number confidence and skills using National Numeracy’s online resources​: the National Numeracy Challenge, the Family Maths Toolkit and our new financial education app Nudge (accessible via the National Numeracy Challenge). 

Celebration

We recently celebrated the milestone of  1000 trained Numeracy Champions during a ‘Becoming a Numeracy Champion’ session. 

Our CEO, Sam Sims, joined the call to talk about what it means to be a Numeracy Champion and how important it is to us as a charity for workplace professionals to give up their time to come and work with us to help create brighter futures across the country. 

Trained Numeracy Champions 

National Numeracy have trained over 1000 Numeracy Champions so far.  We have Numeracy Champions from 339 organisations across 38 different local authorities and councils in England and Scotland, including 105 different NHS Trusts and organisations. 

Our largest projects include working with Health Education England, Local Authorities, as part of the Multiply initiative, and our Every Londoner Counts project with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. 

National Numeracy are continuing to grow and expand the impact of the ‘Becoming a Numeracy Champion’ programme, and so far, this year alone, we’ve trained and supported over 500 new Numeracy Champions. 

What’s next for our Numeracy Champions

At National Numeracy we are committed to supporting Numeracy Champions and helping them to have the biggest possible impact beyond this training. 

We’ve recently launched a Numeracy Champions LinkedIn group, to help Champions network, to share best practice, and to collaborate to address challenges they are facing. We already have over 100 members in that group. 

National Numeracy are also currently developing a digital hub full of resources and ideas for all Numeracy Champions to have access to and take forward in the support and training they provide. 

Together we’re having a major impact in supporting thousands of people, to build both their number confidence and numeracy skills, to help them access opportunities throughout their lives. 

Find out more about our ‘Becoming a Numeracy Champion’ programme:

If you work for a local authority or local government and are interested in our training programme please contact: multiply@nationalnumeracy.org.uk

Any other organisations or individuals interested in our programme should contact: training@nationalnumeracy.org.uk