What is maths anxiety?

Maths anxiety is a very real condition, not dissimilar to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It occurs when a person has experienced a traumatic event and the amygdala has stored that memory so that when the learner encounters it again, they instantly go into “fight or flight mode”, the body becomes stimulated with adrenalin and the brain shuts down. In maths, such an event may be being suddenly asked to say a time table fact or doing a test and passing it to another person to mark.

Children as young as six start to suffer from maths anxiety.

This can start the maths anxiety sequence which follows a pattern of:

• Afraid to have a go
• Not learning new skills
• Not having skills to build new learning
• Afraid to have a go