Making it all add up: evaluating the Embedded Maths intervention
The essential link between work and skills delivery was underlined last year by the transfer of responsibility for adult skills policy from the Department for Education (DfE) to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This places adult skills at the heart of the government’s ambition to realise an 80% employment rate, as declared in the Get Britain Working White Paper.
Multiply was a three-year programme aimed at improving adult maths capabilities in the UK. Regional and national initiatives explored engaging adults with maths through a myriad of new ways, both formal and informal, direct and indirect. A number of these were the subject of randomised controlled trials and evaluations and in the Embedded Maths project we looked at how maths confidence and competence at home and work could be delivered by integrating Level 1 maths concepts into the curricula of Health & Social Care (H&SC) Level 2 qualifications. The intervention adapted Functional Skills Level 1 maths concepts to align with the application of maths in H&SC jobs (for example, interpreting data and averages, understanding units, measuring, budgeting, understanding time, recording and presenting data, understanding temperature, and charts and graphs, as these relate to working in H&SC).
The intervention was based on the premise that adult learners are motivated to take vocational courses to progress into work but are less keen to return to study maths (Social Mobility Commission, 2021). Research conducted in 2023 by the charity National Numeracy and KPMG into the levels of maths anxiety in adults in the UK revealed that 35% of adults say that doing maths makes them feel anxious, while 20% are so fearful it even makes them feel physically sick (KPMG UK, 2023). This anxiety may prevent adults from engaging in maths learning, in turn limiting their potential progression and employment prospects.
The idea behind the Embedded Maths intervention was to expose maths as integral to the H&SC curriculum so that teachers and learners understood its relevance and importance. The intervention sought to develop teachers’ knowledge, understanding and skill in embedding maths approaches, leading to changes in their practice and confidence in their own maths abilities. It was expected that this would lead them to promote a positive maths mindset to learners, which in turn would lead to improved learner maths competences and confidence, and ultimately to employment opportunities.
What we found
The Embedded Maths intervention was different to other interventions tested as part of the DfE Adult Numeracy Trials in that it did not directly target maths learners. And this had a consequence for the teachers, who were not trained in teaching maths and may experience similar confidence barriers as the learners. Whilst the intervention ultimately only involved a couple of providers, the two H&SC tutors who successfully delivered the intervention reported improved confidence in covering the additional maths content due to its real-life application to H&SC roles. They were also positive about the effect of the Embedded Maths intervention on their own practice. This translated to learners with the evidence suggesting that the Embedded Maths intervention can contribute to addressing maths anxiety and enable learners to approach workplace tasks they had previously avoided.
How this translates to wider learning
The focus on learning as a route to employment taps into one of the key motivations for learning. As Levenson discussed in his 2001 paper, linking the basic skills curricula to job requirements provided a strong motivation for employees to participate as they could clearly see how training and learning linked to their job performance. And the reference to job performance points to another matter of keen interest to policymakers, which is the link with productivity, with a 2025 systematic review of evidence including in its conclusions that “The weight of evidence is strongly in favour of there being a positive association between skills and productivity.”
Taking this a step further, the Learning Through Work; Literacy, language, numeracy and IT skills (LLNIT) development in low-paid, low-skilled workplaces paper from 2006 concludes that “LLNIT skills are seen by some as the essential starting point for human resource practices aimed at moving towards high performance working”. Indeed, it goes on to suggest that skills development need not be through traditional learning events but can be delivered as part of the job, which brings us back to the relevance of work skills to motivation and the value of embedded learning.
Why it’s important now
Embedding maths into vocational learning isn’t new and the OECD’s PIAAC data from 2024 supports this approach: “PIAAC findings also underscored the importance of embedding literacy and numeracy within vocational qualifications, given the foundational role these competencies play in supporting employability and progression.” The PIAAC data also stated that this evidence can guide strategies to encourage upskilling and reskilling, especially for adults in changing labour markets, which feels very relevant to our current world of work.
As the OECD presentation coverage stated when discussing the outcomes of investment in skills, skills continue to be key drivers of wages over and above formal education. Which brings us full circle to the government overtly pulling adult skills into employment policy, with the focus on adult learning as a route to employment and progression. This link is clearly going to be crucial to deliver the 80% employment rate target. In addition, the OECD survey reveals the impact of skills on health and wellbeing, which means that this focus may well also deliver other health and social benefits along the way.
Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.