National numeracy initiatives in England and Wales: a comparative study of policy

Abstract

The introduction of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) in England has had a very significant effect on the teaching of numeracy in English primary schools. The NNS, however, does not apply in Wales where the Welsh Office decided to adopt a less prescriptive approach and encouraged local education authorities (LEAs), in partnership with their schools, to develop their own, locally based, numeracy initiatives. This article outlines the way in which recent numeracy policies have developed in England and Wales and compares their main strands. The article suggests that the decision not to adopt the NNS in Wales was potentially one of the most significant educational policy decisions taken in Cardiff during recent years. The article also highlights the fact that these parallel approaches offer an ideal opportunity for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of such alternative strategies as levers for large‐scale reform, and that such examination could usefully inform future policy‐making both within and beyond the curricular and geographical limits of the contexts considered here.