4.2 Growing resilience – a case study
You will now look at Heather’s case study, which illustrates a common issue – a difficulty in learning maths. The case study shows how a coaching course helped Heather to set aside her own mathematical fears and to support her daughter’s capacity for resilience, rather than trying to act as an expert providing mathematical expertise or solutions. Academics at Warwick University and The Open University, the authors of this research, describe this as developing ‘mathematical resilience’ – a ‘can do’ attitude to approaching mathematical problems (Johnston-Wilder et al., 2013).
Activity _unit3.5.3 Activity 6 Developing mathematical resilience
This activity presents the case study of ‘Heather’, a mother who has taken a course on how to develop mathematical resilience. The case study is in three parts:
- Heather’s experience as a child
- her feelings as a mother
- her increasing confidence in behaving differently following her attendance on a course for parents.
Part 1 Heather’s childhood
Read the following brief outline of Heather’s childhood experience.
Reading _unit3.5.1
I remember sitting in my Year 6 classroom. My teacher was Miss Jackson. We were doing maths, we were working on long division. I got a red cross on some of my work but when I checked on the calculator the answer was correct.
This puzzled me, so when I questioned my teacher she said it was because my working out was wrong. She made me feel stupid in front of my peers when I explained my methods.
In Section 1 this week, you saw that resilient children showed confidence, intelligence, problem solving, a positive outlook, and forward thinking. Which of these traits do you see in this example?
Comment
Heather, as a child, had been willing to ‘have a go’. She had reached a correct answer and asked for clarification when she was puzzled by the teacher marking her answer wrong. The teacher’s response undermined Heather’s existing mathematical resilience, and contributed to Heather feeling embarrassed in class and losing confidence. This led to less willingness to ask questions in the future and loss of mathematical confidence.
Part 2 ‘I just can’t do maths’ – Heather as a mother
Now consider Heather’s description of her experience as a mother, wanting to support her daughter despite her own mathematical anxiety.
Reading _unit3.5.2
Throughout the years, when I've worked with my daughter on maths homework it’s been a combination of falling out, shouting, tears, avoidance, feeling stupid on both parts, her putting herself down, me trying to restore her confidence, but both of us to[o] tense and stressed for it to make any difference. In recent years she began laughing at me for using a calculator and not understanding, pointing out what year she is in and [saying] that I need to go back to school.
Consider which of the supporting factors for resilience (outlined in Section 3) Heather is able to draw upon, and which she does not put to use:
- strong and supportive family relationships
- family social networks that extend into the community
- the development of good communication skills
- the ability to show empathy to others
- sociability, i.e. a liking for developing new social relationships.
Comment
In this account, Heather describes a desperately stressful situation in which her attempts to help, as she believes she should, lead to further embarrassment and undermine her role as mother, and further her perception of herself as hopeless with mathematics.
Heather’s stress involves several factors, including her expectations and self-beliefs. Heather had the expectation that, as a mother, she should be able to help as she did with other subjects, and yet saw herself as a failure in mathematics.
Although Heather shows empathy with her daughter’s mathematical struggles, communication has become difficult and Heather is not drawing on extended networks or relationships.
Part 3 ‘A can-do approach’ – Heather supporting mathematical resilience in her daughter
In the next extract Heather has changed her approach following a course at her daughter’s school to develop ‘coaches for mathematical resilience’. In this programme, which aims to train people to become effective coaches, an individual begins by working through their own anxieties towards mathematics in a safe and collaborative environment alongside other parents.
Reading _unit3.5.3
One day after she came home from school, she curiously asked me for the text book they had been working from that day in school. She confidently flicked the page open to an angles section, where there was a page full of lines in all directions. She said: ‘We were doing this today but I don’t get it.’
So I said, ‘Well let’s have a look then!’
Within a few minutes she understood. It turned out that all that really confused her was the layout of the page as it was full of lines set up in twos connecting at one point and they were heading in all sorts of directions.
Identify which of the resilience characteristics Heather is now drawing on to support her daughter:
- strong and supportive family relationships
- family social networks that extend into the community
- the development of good communication skills
- the ability to show empathy to others
- sociability, i.e. a liking for developing new social relationships.
Comment
Heather’s response was getting out the home copy of the school text, being curious and supportive, and listening. There was no need for her to input any mathematics.
Her daughter expected Heather to be helpful and supportive without knowing current school mathematics. If she needed any maths help, the daughter would contact a maths expert with her mother’s support and encouragement.
Heather is now dealing with a request for help with confidence, showing good communication skills as she allows her daughter to talk through her problem and she uses the school resources effectively. She isn’t letting her own negative experiences cloud the current situation. In taking the course, Heather has drawn upon wider community networks with the school and developed new friendships with other parents in a similar situation. Heather shows empathy and a strong, supportive family relationship with her daughter and recognises the level of help that she is able to give.
While this case study started with a focus on mathematical resilience, it soon developed into a wider discussion about resilience and the advantages of a supportive environment, where Heather took on more of a coaching role.
The involvement of a coach will introduce support, respect, compassion and validation, without judgment, to a situation, and this can help the other person to feel safer in taking risks.
Is there anyone in your life who does this for you now? Or do you take on this role for others? You’ll explore the benefits of coaching in more detail in Week 6.