Further Insight into the Decision to Return to Mathematics

The accounts of the prodigals’ decisions to return to mathematics were very individualistic in many respects but there were also a number of significant commonalities. All of the accounts showed an appreciation of the many advantages offered by a mathematics qualification, but these were differently prioritised and expressed.

Participant A saw learning mathematics as a significant step towards improving their employment prospects and setting themselves up properly for life; in short, A demonstrated an appreciation of a mathematics qualification as cultural capital. A also wanted to pass this advantage on to her children: “I’m actually doing it for my future, and for my future with my kids as well.” A was so determined to attain this capital that this was the second time she had actually gone to college; her first experience had not been successful (see section 3.5.2) so she had given up temporarily and returned for a second attempt later.

B had also demonstrated persistence in working towards her goals; she had been working towards a numeracy qualification for about three years, even attending two classes at once at one point. Her decision to return to mathematics was fuelled by a specific desire and goal for which mathematics was acting as a gatekeeper qualification:

I: You mentioned to me before something about wanting to be an HLTA?

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I: OK. And do you have to have some kind of numeracy for that? B: Oh yeah, you’ve got to have literacy and numeracy two, level two.

Conversely, participant C “didn’t actually decide to take a specific maths course”. Having chosen to return to college to improve his skills and employment prospects, he was studying numeracy as part of an umbrella course. However, he was aware of the potency of his study:

C: I thought, OK – maths was my weakest subject at school - by far - you know, if I’m going to get any sort of job in the future my maths has to improve…

C appeared to conceptualise numeracy as a natural and important step within the wider pathways of basic skills and adult education, although for him the numeracy certificate “personally didn’t mean all that”. His decision had also been aided by a certain practical factor:

I: So your focus in doing the maths course was to improve your job prospects, that sort of thing?

C: Basically, yeah, it just got me to a level where I maybe would be able to go back and do a college course on a particular subject, you know. It was also… I thought it was quite an easy way of getting myself back into the idea of learning. I: OK, excellent. What helped you make the decision?

C: It were free!

Participant D was so convinced of the benefits and import of retaking GCSE mathematics that she had moved house. She wrote on her questionnaire that she

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had “looked at the local college for adult education and was not happy with that they offered. I was so determined to do this that me and my children moved almost 250 miles… I am so glad I did this.” Similarly to many of the others, D viewed mathematics as fundamental to making progress:

D: And then when I sat down and thought about it I thought, well, you need maths for everything, so I might as well do it again.

However, she reported that her primary motivation was her family; her whole interview is in some ways reminiscent of the ‘gradual and sudden’ model of the decision making progress discussed above:

D: The thing that kicked it off in my mind was when my daughter came home with some simple fractions and stuff, and she was only like four or five at the time, and I’m sat thinking, ‘I can’t do that! Oh my god – how do I do that?’– I couldn’t work it out in my head and I thought, ‘what happens when she comes back as a teenager and says, “Mum, can you help me with this?” and I’m like, “Hmm… no, I can’t do it.”’

I: So it was important for you to get it so you could help your kids? D: Yeah, definitely.

The remaining interviewees had all needed GCSE mathematics to progress with their wider studies. Participant E had just finished taking a degree in early childhood studies and had essentially been forced to return to learning mathematics. She reported that the decision to return to the mathematics classroom had been the most challenging thing about the whole experience, as she was afraid that she would be too old to be on the course; this is provocative, as if

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she had not overcome this fear the role of mathematics as a gatekeeper qualification would have effectively vetoed her entire degree.

Participant F’s decision making process was resonant with those of D and E:

F: I was considering going into Primary School teaching which you need GCSE Maths for. I also wanted to improve my maths as I have a 21 month old daughter and want to be able to help her with her maths homework when she's at school.

G wanted to do midwifery at university and needed the right set of qualifications to apply; the timing of her decision had been influenced by her family:

G: The youngest is just about to start school this year, the middle one started school last September, so I thought I’d probably be able to fit it in a bit better than I would have done before. I just wouldn’t have really had time before to be honest.

In summary, these decision making processes support the findings of section 3.4; the interviews reiterate the command of mathematics as a both a general form of cultural capital and as the content of specific gatekeeper qualifications. Although this finding does not preclude the probable influences of other goals and roles, this role appears to both predicate and pervade the decision making process as described in every one of the interviews conducted. Beyond the explicit reflections on this role in the interviews, it is further suggestive that whilst the interviews do detail a number of motives why someone might want to learn mathematics, when A, D, F and G discuss being able to help their children they do not connect this desire to these other motives; it could be argued from both this and the corresponding questionnaire data that the desire to circumvent the social

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and political disadvantages of poor numeracy (and perhaps prevent circumstances repeating themselves) is more active in the decision making process than the desire to inculcate numeracy-based skills or facilities.