Number Confidence Week 2022
National Numeracy and Capital One UK
We all deal with numbers in our daily lives, whether it’s knowing how to build a household budget, doing calculations at work or helping our family. However, everyday maths is something everyone feels differently about, and some people feel a lot more confident using numbers than others. At Capital One, we believe that we can all get comfortable with numeracy - that’s where our partnership with National Numeracy comes in.
National Numeracy is an independent charity dedicated to raising awareness of poor numeracy levels in the UK. Earlier this year Capital One UK was proud to be announced as a strategic partner for the charity, supporting the charity's crucial work to help the nation improve their relationship with numbers.
On 7 - 11 November 2022 National Numeracy is hosting its third annual Number Confidence Week, a week that aims to kick-start people's confidence with numbers by providing a number of resources to help people improve their skills. Capital One is proud to be one of the Lead Supporters of Number Confidence Week 2022.
Why is number confidence important?
Being confident with maths is so important. Research by National Numeracy found that 49% of adults have the numeracy skills expected of a primary school child. Struggling with numbers can make people more vulnerable to debt, unemployment, poor health and fraud. Number Confidence Week helps raise awareness of this issue and provide development opportunities for those struggling with numeracy.
Building confidence is crucial to Capital One UK. As a numbers-focused business, supporting both its customers and associates with improving their number confidence leads to a good outcome for everyone. Their success with numbers goes hand-in-hand with Capital One’s success as a business.
Recently Capital One UK CEO Lucy-Marie Hagues spoke to Sam Sims, CEO at National Numeracy during National Numeracy’s #BigNumberNatter about her relationship with numbers. She was asked what one word she’d use to describe her relationship with maths. Her answer… “Joy”.
Lucy explained why maths is something that’s there to help and how she gets excited when using numbers to solve challenges. But she also understands how it can feel like an obstacle for lots of people around the country.
Why do some people feel anxious about maths? Everyone’s experience is unique, but some common reasons are:
- Negative experiences at school
- Poor quality teaching or lack of support
- Fear of failure or embarrassment
- Being told they aren’t a maths person
- Focusing on the subjects they enjoy more
- Feeling under pressure
You may need to work hard to become more confident with numbers. National Numeracy has launched a range of resources to help adults become more confident each day.
Myths about maths
As we’ve learnt, we all have a different relationship with numbers - but for those who struggle we can improve by changing our attitude towards them. National Numeracy has busted some myths about maths so you can start getting on with numbers.
Myth 1 - “I can’t do maths because I never use it in my work or life”
Busted - Everyone uses maths every day: planning journeys, shopping, cooking, doing DIY... all of them are working with numbers!
Myth 2 - “Learning maths as an adult is just like going back to school”
Busted - As adults you can choose what and how you learn. You can do it online, confidentially, and in your own space.
Myth 3 - “I'm the only one who feels anxious about maths”
Busted - Maths anxiety is common: many people feel anxious, nervous or stressed when it comes to numbers. But you can overcome it.
You can learn more myths and how they’re busted here.
Confidence with maths at work
At work you do maths every day, for example: working with budgets, organising schedules, measuring materials and managing time. It might not be exactly like the maths you did at school, but it is maths.
Feeling anxious with numbers at work can make you feel less confident and make it harder to progress in our careers. But you are not alone. There are some things that you can do at work to make working with numbers feel less daunting:
- Don’t rush – maths at work is not a race
- Ask for support with your maths if you need it
- Talk about how maths makes you feel
- Take away the pressure of being around other people
- Find the right place to do the maths
Learn more by checking out National Numeracy’s top tips for being more confident at work
Money management
Money management is one of the most important reasons to be confident with money. Maths can help you make decisions about your finances and unlock other ways to manage your money more effectively.
National Numeracy worked with ambassador Timi Merriman-Johnson (Mr MoneyJar) to investigate the best ways to save, spend and budget when confidence with numbers is a barrier. Discovering that if you feel more confident with numbers, then you will feel better equipped to manage your money.
Learn more about what they investigated here.
The National Numeracy Challenge
Number Confidence Week is all about highlighting how people can get comfortable with everyday maths and National Numeracy is on an mission everyone in the UK to get on with numbers so they can get on in life.
More than 350,000 people have registered to check and improve their maths skills with The National Numeracy Challenge. It’s a free and easy to use space you can use it to check and brush up just the skills you need at your own pace.
Make sure to check it out here.