Special Educational Needs: Dyscalculia

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very pleased to take part in today’s debate for two reasons, the first of which is personal. After 27 years in your Lordships’ House, I had not anticipated that I would talk about this. I failed my maths O-level four times and still managed to get good enough A-levels, including one in economics, to be accepted at the London School of Economics and Political Science. On reflection, I seem not to have had problems with concepts, but I did have problems with numbers. Nevertheless, the lack of a maths O-level means that, today, I would not even be allowed to take my A-levels, let alone be admitted to the London School of Economics.

When I was a Government Minister, I occasionally told my officials that any important numbers that I had to speak aloud needed to be put in words as well as in numbers, as I had a tendency then—and still do now—to reverse them. Telephone numbers are a particular issue. A close member of my family has long been diagnosed with dyscalculia as well as dyspraxia, with the two often going together. They had a maths tutor from the age of 11, whose job it was to get them through their maths GCSE—with success. But that of course is not open to most families.

Secondly, the article by the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, in the House magazine in March absolutely hit the spot. My friend, Emeritus Professor Brian Butterworth, is one of the founding fathers of the modern approach to mathematical cognition. His expertise in this area and that of his colleagues mean that we are all very well briefed indeed.

This is a timely debate and one that I hope will push the policy agenda forward. The priority here, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, has explained, is to seek recognition for those who struggle with maths in the same way in which we recognise the importance of support for children who have speech and language delay and for those who are dyslexic. This recognition needs to be built into our SEND programmes. I need reassurance from the Minister over the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, established by her department to provide advice and recommendations on how best to meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings, which seemed at the outset not to include children with speech and language development challenges and, most relevant to this debate, children with developmental dyscalculia. Can my noble friend assure the House that this issue has been remedied?

The noble Baroness, Lady Bull, has explained eloquently what dyscalculia is, and surely the fact that this affects the numeracy skills of between 4% and 7% of children, thereby reducing the probability of them achieving five or more good GCSEs. That significantly reduces education and life chances, which highlights the inequality faced by this cohort of children, young people and adults. It is important and requires the Government to do several things. Fortunately, much of the research and work has already been undertaken. For example, in 2020, the paper Current Understanding, Support Systems, and Technology-led Interventions for Specific Learning Difficulties drew together for the Government’s Office of Science at the time a series of four rapid evidence reviews to help inform a project carried out by the then Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. The paper explored how technology and research can help improve educational outcomes for learners with specific learning difficulties, including dyscalculia. The proposal for action in this paper and many other documents provides a good pathway for dealing with this challenge.

Does my noble friend the Minister recognise the need to give developmental dyscalculia legal status as well as an official definition in the UK? Will the Government be developing the policy framework from which action can flow—such as teacher training, special needs assessments and advice for parents, to name just one or two? Is any consideration being given to this issue in the SEND review taking place at the moment and as described by the noble Baroness, Lady Bull? Raising awareness of this condition, as Dyscalculia Day will do, is the first step towards creating an environment in which all children are given the support they need and deserve to fulfil their potential and live the life they want to lead.