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Kumon Maths

A new method of teaching mathematics is becoming increasingly popular in the UK — the Kumon Method. This Japanese system of learning is based on repetition and practice, with students spending a little time every day working on sums.

Practice makes perfect. Learn by your mistakes. If at first you don't succeed...

Throwaway sayings perhaps, but these age-old nuggets of wisdom are still relevant when applied to a phenomenon in mathematics teaching that has been sweeping across the UK since the early 1990s.

Kumon Maths is a Japanese system whereby children and young adults complete up to twenty minutes of quick sums every day. Pupils are taught through the traditional method of learning times tables, with everything from counting to arithmetic and calculus covered. Notably, no calculators are used.

The Kumon Method began in 1954, when Toru Kumon, a secondary school teacher in Japan, created a series of comprehensive handwritten worksheets to help his son Takeshi, who was struggling with mathematics at school. Kumon felt that his son would be in a better position to solve the sorts of numerical problems being taught at school if the skills necessary to understand advanced-level mathematics were taught one step at a time. Eventually, he had Takeshi mastering complicated calculations through spending half an hour a day on the worksheets. These worksheets were eventually incorporated into a curriculum, and it's this specific course of study that forms the essence of the Kumon Method.

In 1991, the Kumon Maths programme was launched in the UK, and an English programme based on the same method arrived four years later.

Many schools copy the Kumon idea by incorporating it into their mathematics curriculum to complement the formal teaching children receive. However, the method is taught mainly by teachers who work independently in after-school franchises.

Over the years there has been some criticism from UK teachers and education centres in general that mathematics teaching is suffering due to overcrowded classes. Meanwhile, private or extra lessons are being seen by an increasing number of parents from all financial backgrounds as an important and necessary aid to making sure their children pass exams and succeed in later life. Could Kumon centres therefore be a way forward for many school-age pupils?

In order for the method to be effective, students will need the sort of disposition to stick to something that's outlined for them to do on a daily basis, regardless of how brief the studying activity is. If there are any deep-seated fears of mathematics, or high levels of boredom relating to mathematics subjects and problem solving, then these have to be addressed before any kind of enjoyment will be gained from the Kumon Maths method. That said, there is currently an impressive estimate of over 35,000 students studying Kumon Maths at over 500 centres nationwide, as well as those attending Kumon study centres in 40 countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Germany and Spain.

Far from simply being a way of teaching mathematics as an isolated subject, the Kumon system is also used as a means of developing the potential of each child by boosting their self-confidence. Teachers carry out diagnostic tests to work out the best starting point for each student, with the aim of enabling pupils to reach scores of 100 per cent from day one. Children get loads of ticks and praise and don't go on to the next level until they are competent in the previous one. This is where the elements of repetition and consistent practice come into play, as well as the belief that pupils have fully to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Although one of the aims of the Kumon Method is to avoid any feelings of failure in pupils, false flattery obviously won't benefit those who might have started the method as a way to banish any persistent problems with mathematics. Some pupils enrol to catch up with the school curriculum, while others are striving to move ahead of it.

There's a routine to be followed at any centre, which basically involves students handing in homework and collecting new worksheets, completing ten to twenty minutes of work before handing it in for marking. Students begin on another subject while the worksheet is being marked, and then do the corrections straight away to learn from any mistakes.

For Kumon teachers, working at a specialist centre is like running a small business. Full training is offered, as well as ongoing management and professional support, as it is the teachers' responsibility to organise the classes and motivate students.

Communication with pupils and parents is crucial as this ties in with the element of parental devotion that kick-started Toru Kumon's methods. His often-repeated philosophy stands as something of a mantra for many of the UK and international Kumon centres as it states that:

Every child has the potential to learn far beyond his or her parents' expectations. It is our job as educators... to encourage each individual child to want to learn, to enjoy learning and to be capable of studying whatever they need or wish to be in the future.

Further information

The Kumon website gives details of Kumon Maths and English study centres in the UK. You can log on for details of how to enrol your child, class prices, how to become a Kumon instructor as well as links to international Kumon centres.

Published: 20 February 2004