Four in 10 teachers say they regularly hear pupils talking negatively about maths, according to a major new survey about teaching of the subject.
And the vast majority of respondents (83 per cent) said they hear children do this at least some of the time.
A YouGov survey of more than 1,000 teachers, middle and senior leaders, seen by Tes, shows that secondary school students were more likely to be negative than those at primary.
It also reveals that most teachers believe the biggest barrier to enjoying the subject is a lack of confidence and also pupils not seeing the real-world applications and benefits of maths.
The findings come after Labour announced plans at its party conference this week to “upskill” primary school teachers to be able to teach the subject in more real-world contexts - such as personal budgeting, using recipes and understanding sports league tables.
Announcing the plans, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson told delegates they would “tackle our chronic cultural problem with maths”.
The new YouGov survey was commissioned by the firm Renaissance and follows the recent report it produced with the Education Policy Institute that warned maths outcomes for primary-aged pupils remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Negativity about maths from parents and pupils
In the new poll most teachers and school leaders reported hearing some negativity about maths from both parents and pupils.
Some 13 per cent said their pupils were negative very frequently about the subject and another 27 per cent said they heard frequent negativity from students.
A breakdown of responses by phases shows that secondary school teachers encounter more negativity.
More than double the proportion of secondary teachers said they encountered negativity regularly from students over maths learning compared with their primary counterparts - with 18 per cent flagging frequent negative comments versus 8 per cent of primary respondents.
Meanwhile, 19 per cent of primary teachers said they frequently heard negativity about maths learning among pupils, compared with 35 per cent of secondary teachers.
And among maths teachers at secondary school the figure was even higher, with one-third saying they heard negativity very frequently and another third saying they heard it frequently.
The data also shows that negativity around the subject extends to parents.
Around one-third of teachers said they frequently or very frequently heard parents speaking negatively about maths, while another third said that they sometimes heard this.
One in 10 said that they heard parents expressing negativity very frequently, while one in five (22 per cent) said they encountered it among parents frequently.
Only 8 per cent said they had never heard parents speak negatively about the subject.
Pupils don’t see ‘real world’ benefits of maths
Teachers were also asked what they believed the biggest barriers were to pupils enjoying maths.
The most common response - chosen by 56 per cent of respondents - was that pupils lack confidence in the subject.
A similar proportion - 55 per cent - said that pupils did not see the benefit or real-world applications of the subject.
Just under half (46 per cent) said that society encourages a culture in which it is OK to find maths hard.
More than one-third of respondents highlighted issues connected to pupils’ parents.
Some 37 per cent identified parents not feeling confident to support pupils doing homework as the biggest barrier, and the same proportion pointed to parents’ attitudes toward maths.
Renaissance consultant Frances Kingston said: “Numeracy skills are an essential part of everyday life, whether we are paying bills, measuring ingredients for cooking or helping our children with their homework. But this research highlights an ongoing lack of confidence in maths across the population.
“To change the narrative, we need to support teachers and parents in their efforts to engage children with the subject from an early age and boost their confidence.
“By establishing a more positive message around maths, we can help dispel the idea that some people have a brain for maths and others don’t.”
