What is maths anxiety, and what are the signs?

There are two ways maths anxiety can negatively impact on your child's learning:

• In the short-term, when doing maths work: high levels of maths anxiety can interrupt important memory processes, making it harder to successfully complete the maths work they need to do. This can happen in class or at home, for instance, when doing homework.

• In the long-term, after school, and later in life: if your child continues to feel anxious about maths, they might begin to avoid maths altogether. At first, this could mean avoiding doing homework or preparing for a test; eventually it could mean choosing not to do maths in senior high school, or avoiding careers that need strong maths skills².

Signs that a child is feeling maths-anxious are similar to the types of things that we all feel when we experience any type of anxiety. Children might describe their feelings in these ways:

• When they know they have to do maths, your child might say they feel butterflies in their stomach or feel like their heart is racing.
• On top of this, they might be preoccupied by negative thoughts about their own maths capabilities, for instance, "I am never going to understand maths".
• They might also focus on their mistakes as evidence that they are not good at maths, rather than appreciating that mistakes are part of how we all learn and grow.

Underlying all this is often an idea or belief that maths ability or potential is something that we cannot change. This is often referred to as a fixed mindset.

There are two other key signs that you might observe in your child, that might indicate they are anxious about maths:

• They want to avoid maths all the time. If you think about it, most of us want to avoid things that make us worried, so it makes sense that a maths anxious child would want to stay away from maths.
• They are not confident about their maths learning. Children that are anxious about maths often also have poor maths confidence. The way to help develop kids' confidence is to get them to practise their maths so that they can experience success.

Unfortunately, if you are a parent that has tried to help your child engage with maths to help develop this confidence, you may have found that their anxiety acts like an obstacle to these efforts. They may try to avoid your help, or it may seem like their anxiety is preventing them from being able to absorb maths information.

Being anxious about maths isn't something genetic; we're not born with maths anxiety. As kids grow up, it's their experiences with the world around them that lead to the development of ideas and thinking about maths that make it seem scary.

Here are some examples of experiences that can lead to the types of negative ideas about maths that link to maths anxiety:

• Early experiences struggling with maths or finding it hard.
• Experiences of being told at home or at school that they are 'just not good at maths'. This is sometimes linked to other family members' history with maths.
• Being exposed to and then believing myths about maths and maths ability: for example, 'girls aren't good at maths'; 'there is only one right answer or way to do things in maths'; 'being good at maths means you're smart in general'.

If your child is maths anxious and this impacts on their maths learning, this doesn't have to be something that colours their interaction with maths for life.

By trying out different strategies and tools, they can learn to understand, identify and deal with their maths anxiety. This is described in more detail in this Family Portal article: What are the best strategies for dealing with maths anxiety?