Survey finds that parents 'rely on phone calculators' to help children with maths homework.

According to a ComRes poll (commissioned by TeachFirst and Barclays) of 1,000 Parents who took part across the UK, nearly two in five of them rely on phone calculators or Google searches when helping their child with maths and science because they don't know enough about the subjects themselves. Whilst a third of parents also said that they feel anxious when helping out with their child's maths or science homework. 

The parents said they tended to use technology when working out sums because they did not feel confident about their knowledge of maths and science based on their own schooling experience, the poll revealed. Some parents also carry out research online without their child knowing because they are too embarrassed to admit they don't know everything.

In a separate study published last year, maths was identified by the highest proportion of parents as the hardest subject to help their child with. 34 per cent said maths was the hardest, while only 8 per cent said it was English.

Sissy Pambu, a 36-year-old mother of two pupils aged nine and 13, said that, in the past, she’s gone to great lengths to conceal her lack of knowledge of maths and science.

Ms Pambu said: “I tried to work out my daughter’s math problems on my own while she was sleeping because I didn’t want her to see me. I went online or used a pen and paper to try to work out stuff like fractions, decimals and how to multiply and divide.

“I felt embarrassed because, as parents, we feel like we should know everything.”

The survey follows an announcement from David Cameron, the Prime Minister, earlier this month, in which he launched a new £15,000 university bursary for students with good grades in physics and maths.

The bursary is intended to help pupils with the costs of studying at university and comes with the proviso that they agree to become schoolteachers for at least three years following graduation.

(Full Article:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11481062/Parents-rely-on-phone-calculators-to-help-children-with-maths-survey-finds.html)