The Government has announced that it expects all children to be able to recall their times tables – up to and including 12 x 12 – by the time they reach age 11 and leave Primary School.
Quite right too. They should know them before age 11, but it makes sense to test them at this point as part of the Key Stage 2 tests.
Last term I was shocked when one of my year nines said to me:
… but sir, 5 x 10 can’t be fifty. 10 x 5 is fifty.
This year, I teach the “bottom set” of year nine and (for some of them) their inability to instantly recall basic numerical facts – after nine years of compulsory education – frightens me. There is no doubt in my mind that a lack of fluency in their times tables holds them back.
Of course, knowing your times tables is not a panacea for all innumeracy but it is a vital part of the solution. I would also like to see pupils – at home and at school – “muck about” more with numbers; play games – cards, monopoly, darts; go shopping with hard cash in their pocket etc., all of which will help to develop basic numeracy skills and put numbers in context.
There has been much in the media and press about this story today, much of it positive and supportive. The best quote I have seen was on Twitter from @MarkMcCourt of eMathsUk:
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