Essex County Council’s (ECC) new programme, Multiply in Essex, is supporting Learning at Work Week by encouraging those over 19 years old to improve their maths skills with free maths courses whilst they are in employment.
Multiply in Essex has been helping Essex residents aged 19 and over to get better with maths since early 2023. Multiply has a network of providers across the county who have a wide programme of maths courses to help those looking to improve their number skills, from working out bills, helping children with schoolwork and getting better qualifications to get a new job.
For Learning at Work Week (15 – 21 May) Multiply in Essex is encouraging those in work to improve their maths to improve job progression. Kersti Harding, a trainer and former maths tutor at Wickford’s Debut Academy (Multiply partner) shares her route to becoming more confident with maths whilst in work.
Kersti was born in South Africa but moved to Zimbabwe with her parents when she was 12 months old. Kersti lived there for the next 22 years, gaining some ‘O’ Levels and undertaking secretarial and computing courses.
In 1999 Kersti relocated to the UK and trained in the beauty industry, and then became a beauty trainer at Debut Academy in Wickford. It was at Debut that Kersti was asked to teach maths skills to the beauty students. Kersti was very unsure about the role as she: “hated maths, I was terrified of numbers”. Kersti confided her fears to a fellow trainer who gave her some surprising and encouraging advice, “I told him that there was no way I could teach maths as I’d always hated maths. He replied that my feelings towards maths would actually make me the best person to teach it, that I’d understand the student’s fears and how they feel”.
“It’s mad to teach maths when you hate it, but it is a vocation, and you need to keep practising and using the formula otherwise you forget it”.
Maths skills are required for the beauty sector as students need to use basic maths every day, from using ratios for mixing acrylics (3 parts powder to 1 part liquid), hair colouring to calculate the peroxide ratio, working out percentages for event offers and the number of wax strips needed per client to ensure minimal waste and maximum profit.
Kersti taught maths for two years and her maths skills improved as a result, and she is much more confident with numbers now, although admits that she still uses her fingers and calculators sometimes. Kersti also noted the Debut students becoming more confident with maths, Kersti says: “As soon as I said we’d be covering maths I used to see a wall come up from the students. The first maths session would take about 20 minutes and was used to see what maths level the students were at. By the end of the course, they retook the same session and the vast majority had improved their maths, which is wonderful!”.
In the first three months that Multiply has been offered at the Debut Academy, it has had 48 Multiply learners on the course. Kersti is now the Business Development Director at Debut, with Bobbie taking on the maths role, including online sessions, Kersti says: “It’s refreshing for funding to be there for those aged 19 or older. Those adult learners have all wanted to be self-employed and they realise that good maths skills are essential to work out profit and loss, working out area so they can work out the size room they need for beauty equipment, as most of them aim to work from home. In fact, we don’t call it maths, we call it ‘Business Planning’ as that’s what they relate to, how they understand maths. At the end of the day, they all need to be earning a decent wage and attract customers, and confidence with maths helps them towards their goal”.
Cllr Tony Ball, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, said: “It is fantastic to see how Multiply is helping local businesses in Essex to empower their employees and support them in their careers. Lots of people might use maths in their job without even realising, as it is vital to so many different roles and sectors. It’s important to continuously improve our numeracy skills, so if you or your employees could benefit from improving your skills, sign up to a free course.”
Kersti encourages all Essex employers to offer the free Multiply courses to their staff. “I’ve seen how quickly students pick up the basics of maths and how they become better at their jobs because they are more confident with maths as a result of Multiply. It’s the best free training an employer can give and I can’t recommend it enough to employers”.
To find out what free Multiply in Essex courses are available where you live visit: www.essexopportunities.co.uk/multiply.
