A North Derbyshire mum who left school with no qualifications but ended up becoming a teacher herself says anyone thinking of going back into education or training should “Go for it!”
Shaunna Bond from Bolsover left school at just 15 years old after struggling with bullies. As a result, she left with no qualifications and found basic maths in particular very challenging.
After becoming a mum, Shaunna decided to return to her local college and complete her maths GCSE, saying “she didn’t want her children to have the same fear [of maths] that she did”.
The course help boost Shaunna’s confidence in maths and she’s now now currently studying a PGCE to become a teacher and enjoys teaching maths to her students.
Data suggests that nearly a third of UK adults admit a lack of maths confidence makes it harder to cope with the stresses of life, such as managing money, getting a job, getting on at work, and managing health.
Shaunna is also doing a lot of fundamental maths alongside her degree, brushing up on essentials skills to keep maths fresh in mind.
She says taking up maths again as an adult has been transformative.
“Before I did this, things like the weekly budget and having to add up all my bills, and what I had left after getting paid and things like that – I would definitely avoid. Which would mean that I was overspending quite a lot of the time, or just not realising what my budget was, I would just avoid it.
“So now I do find that budgeting’s a lot easier. Things like going round the supermarket and I know roughly how much I’m spending. And I can do that mentally now, rather than sitting there with a calculator.
“My daughter will come to me with homework; before, I’d be like ‘Ask your Dad!’. And now I’m like ‘Let me have a look at that, see what we can do, how can I help you with that?’. And it’s really nice just not hiding from it anymore.
“I think the first thing that I worked out after I did my functional skills – a shop was having a sale, and it was 20% off, and I worked out in my head how much it was. I just had that little internal ‘Proud of you’ moment! I think a lot of people take that for granted, but when you haven’t been able to do something for so long, and suddenly you can, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Having not been a big fan of maths at school herself, how is Shaunna approaching teaching numeracy to the next generation?
“I think a lot of children are more confident in maths than I ever was. But a lot of them – and it’s the same with my generation as well – just don’t see the point in a lot of it. Like, “Why are we learning this, we’ve got calculators…
“So it is trying to inject a bit of fun and relevance. Especially growing up in the age of technology. And while it is very easy to take your phone out, stick your equation in a calculator and off you go, I think showing children that if they do it themselves it builds a sense of purpose and sense of self-worth… you can show off a bit, I guess!
“We play a lot of maths games in class. We do a lot of things where I’ll deliberately make a mistake on the board, and if they get it, they’ll win a point. Just to make it more engaging, because it’s not the most fun subject – and I don’t know as a teacher if I’m able to say that!”
Shaunna has a message for anyone thinking of taking the plunge into learning maths – or indeed anything.
“I think anyone who even has the tiniest fleeting thought that they should pursue a new career, or qualification, or they want to improve their maths skills should just go and do it. You’ve literally got nothing to lose. There’s so much support out there. Lots of government-funded opportunities, like Skills for Life.
“If there’s something you want to do in life, then why not try? It can be really scary. I know a lot of people are scared of change But you’ll feel so much better for doing it. No one regrets the opportunities they took. They regret the ones that they didn’t so just go for it. Have fun with it. Enjoy it!”
