BARRIERS TO

LEARNING
BY LIAM WARD
ASKING QUESTIONS

• Form an open discussion either as a class or individually

• Engage students to talk about their barriers without shame
1. Emotional – Low self esteem and confidence / Previous negative
experiences / abuse or bullying
2. Social & Cultural – Peer pressure / Family background
3. Workplace – Learning styles / Teaching methods
4. Practical – Transport / Access to learning materials
DISCUSS PERSONAL BARRIERS

• Mathematics is my strongest subject but only because it is where I worked hardest

• I struggled with the sequential nature of mathematics at an early age
• Confusions between trying to achieve understanding of the method (knowing why we do
something) and learning mathematical procedures (knowing rules without appreciation for
them)
• Frankly, uninteresting and mind-numbing teaching methods
REASONS FOR OVERCOMING THEM

Regardless of age, race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion or belief,

disability or the passport they hold, every person should enjoy an equal chance
to up-skill or learn something new
WHY LEARN MATHS
RELEVANCE CONTEXT AND APPLICATIONS
• Increased employability
• Become an analytical thinker
• Aptitude for problem solving
• Mental maths for playing darts and snooker more comfortably
• Carpentry and the use of measurements, angles and areas
• Splitting the bill
• Travel times and distances
• Wages
BREAKING BARRIERS

• I firmly believe you can do anything you set your mind to

• Attempt to energize and uplift the pupils will to defeat their individual barriers to learning
• Enhance engagement in the classroom through technology
• Bring out the inquisitive nature in every pupil with math's in the media
• Address math's anxiety issues with games
• Utilise group participation to help achievers from low to high
IN PRACTICE
All ideas can be
administered with the help
• Learning Objectives of careful testing, the
• Structured planning
analysis of errors,
interviewing pupils about
• Periodic review
completed work and
• Simple sentence structures
through observation while
• No more than one fact per sentence
they are doing it.
• Ensure any extra information is useful
• Split questions into sections
• Provide a starting question that engages the whole group