Special Educational Needs: Dyscalculia

Baroness Blake of Leeds Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bull]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to (1) raise awareness of dyscalculia among educators, including Special Educational Needs Coordinators, and (2) ensure dyscalculic pupils have specialist support.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)]

My Lords, we know that some children face real challenges in maths, particularly those with dyscalculia and other special educational needs. That is why we are supporting schools through our national maths hubs as well as improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools. Our core professional development offer, including the initial teacher training and early-year framework, and leadership and SENCO NPQs, provides evidence-based training which supports the workforce to meet the needs of all pupils.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, dyscalculia is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that manifests as severe difficulties with numerical processing. I hope the Minister will agree that with an incidence of one in 20, it is one of the commonly occurring conditions that the SEND reforms promise that every school will recognise and address. However, can she explain how we will get there, when the reforms are silent on numerical processing as a key development area and a full 58% of educators have no more than a rough idea of what dyscalculia is? Given this low awareness, will the Government make increasing dyscalculia knowledge a priority for the £200 million training budget? If so, is the Minister aware that even a modest target—just one level 7-trained assessor educator in each of the 317 councils—would require a doubling of the current capacity in the training system?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for her consistent support across the piece, and often repeated in this Chamber, in highlighting the situation and spelling out clearly what dyscalculia is in the discussions she has had. I recognise that those involved in this have been getting organised and raising the profile, but the approach within schools is that access should not be dependent on a diagnosis. The national inclusion standard, with five core areas of development, should lead to evidence-based support. We need to have a holistic view of the strengths and needs of a child, which should determine that support. Raising awareness is of course an important issue, but this is the approach we are taking at present.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that while you still have an entrance bar that is English and maths, a condition such as dyscalculia can stop somebody progressing through the entire system? If we agree on that, what are we going to do to make sure that all teachers have an understanding that the condition is there and they must listen to the experts when it comes up? More of the same will not work: it will probably just guarantee failure.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises these points at every available opportunity, and I commend him for that. This is an exceptionally important issue, but there is no getting away from the fact that we need a holistic approach that covers the needs of all children and makes sure they can thrive. I welcome the attempt to ensure that young people are better supported to get through the barriers he outlines and to progress through the system.

[Lord Hampton (CB)]

My Lord, I declare my interest as a teacher, as ever. There is no clear national definition of dyscalculia. However many national schools hubs you have and however much teacher training there is, it is not going to be very good if we do not have a definition of it. Do the Government have plans to change that?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I think it fair to say that the Government do not have immediate plans to change this. We want to make sure that all special needs are recognised and given the same exposure and understanding, so that the needs of the whole child can be considered. Obviously, certain conditions run alongside others, and we must make sure that we are not too narrow in our approach, but that is not to underestimate the amount of support that we know these children and young people need.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend may not have had a chance to read an article in yesterday’s Times by Dr Tanya Byron, who, as many people will be aware, is an expert in this area. It discussed the psychological impact of this sort of developmental disorder on young children as they move from primary to secondary education, where very different challenges are presented to them. I commend the Government for the work they are doing in the SEND area; it is very difficult and complicated. However, does my noble friend accept that if these needs are not identified and addressed, they can give rise to other problems of a more behavioural nature, which are just as challenging to deal with if they are left unaddressed?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

My noble friend touches on a really important issue, that of transition to different stages of education, when too many children and young people are extremely vulnerable. It is a broad area—the whole idea of rolling out restorative practice throughout schools, so that there is a much better understanding of behaviour, what has triggered it, and what support can be given. Too many young people have been let down when an assumption has been made that their bad behaviour is due to their personality, rather than any particular condition they might be facing.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Baroness mentioned the importance of the maths hubs. High-quality maths teaching is of course essential for all children, but particularly for those who struggle with maths, including those with dyscalculia. However, she did not mention that the Government have cut funding for the maths hubs and scrapped funding for the computing and science hubs. Would she like to comment on that?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

As the noble Baroness knows extremely well, there are always competing areas for funding, but that is not to underestimate the importance of maths hubs and the work they are doing. We want to make sure they can be as efficient as possible and reach as many young people as possible, using every available avenue of communication.

[The Lord Bishop of Norwich]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the answers she has given, but I will probe a bit further in two areas. Will dyscalculia be included in the core work of the inclusion hubs that are suggested as a requirement for all secondary schools in the schools White Paper? To what extent will the newly announced “experts at hand” funding specifically be used to address support for children with this condition?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I will repeat what I have said, and emphasise that the national inclusion standards cover all areas. We need to have universal approaches as well as the tools and approaches to identify and respond to the needs. Of course, dyscalculia is an important consideration, as are all the other conditions our young people face. That is how we are moving forward—to make sure that every young person’s needs are recognised and dealt with in an appropriate way, in order to give them the absolute maximum support to enable them to succeed.

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, early identification of dyscalculia is so important. From personal experience, a quick and easy way to spot a child with this condition is at reception: when they write out numbers, they write them the wrong way round. Perhaps that is a quick and easy way for teachers to identify such pupils, so that help and support can be brought in from a very early age.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises a crucial point. I do not think there has been enough emphasis in early years on this whole area of SEND. What he says is an interesting idea. It is complex. As a Government we will make sure there is training right across the different phases, through early years, primary and secondary, to ensure recognition of different conditions coming forward. Expert advice will be on hand to give support to enable those children and young people to prosper.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, if I am within time—I look to the Lord Speaker—I wonder whether I could probe the noble Baroness on two of her answers. She said that the national inclusion standards would include numerical processing, but the key organising principles—the key areas of development—do not include numerical processing. Can she also help me understand this question of labelling? I do not think children want labels, but they do want diagnosis. There is no other area in life in which we would attempt to address a problem without having a full diagnosis of what that problem is.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I am very happy to come back to the noble Baroness on the first part of her question. We are at risk of going down the route of semantics on this. We are saying that we want a whole- system approach that recognises the range of needs that children and young people face, and that makes sure we get early diagnosis and intervention so we can address them.