Darts and Numeracy

The Get On campaign - the campaign to raise demand for Skills for Life learning - has been working with the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to highlight the link between darts and good maths skills. A range of darts-related promotional materials, such as scratchcards and beermats, have been produced to support the campaign. As well as being given out at various darts championships, the materials are available for providers to order from the Get On Campaign Office on 020 7544 3130.

Skills Minister Phil Hope raised the game on the nation’s maths abilities when he visited the Lakeside World Darts Championships on 11 January 2006 to celebrate the partnership and thank the BDO for their support for the Get On Campaign. BBC Sport covered the visit and discussed with the Minister how darts and other sports were useful for developing skills, as well as providing motivation for learning. The Minister also showed off his skills by challenging darts legends Bobby George and Martin "the wolf" Adams to a leg of darts. 

ABOVE: Minister Phil "the skill" Hope with learner Helen Rigg, a darts fan who improved her numeracy skills.

See below for the full press release

Click here to test your maths skills in the BBC darts quiz

Click here to read the story in the Daily Mirror

Click here to read the story in the Education Guardian

Wednesday 11 January 2006

MINISTER ON TARGET AT LAKESIDE DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS

British Darts Organisation thanked for support at launch of next stage of basic skills partnership

Skills Minister Phil Hope will today raise the game on the nation’s maths abilities as he visits the Lakeside World Darts Championships to celebrate the British Darts Organisation’s (BDO) support for the Get On Campaign. 

Alongside an official presentation to the BDO, he will become the first Government Minister to compete on the world-famous Lakeside stage as he participates in a leg with well-known darts personality and BBC Grandstand commentator Bobby George.

Darts relies on quick mental arithmetic and co-ordinated by the BDO, leading players like former World Champion Andy Fordham and England Captain Martin “Wolfie” Adams  have thrown their weight behind the campaign, admitting that even they have occasionally made mistakes with sums when under pressure.  

A joint Get On/BDO survey has revealed that almost half of all players have lost games due to miscalculations. The Get On campaign focuses on targeting fans to encourage them to use their sport as the basis for a maths qualification.  

The BDO has distributed over 145,000 specially-designed materials to darts fans during the course of the two-year partnership, including Get On campaign “check-out calculators” to help work out the sums needed to win the game, as well as official Andy Fordham beermats.

Phil Hope commented:

“We’ve had fantastic endorsement from Britain’s leading darts players and we know that people all around the country are using the game to get them back into learning and ultimately, to win a qualification.  

“Nearly 15 million adults lack the numeracy skills needed to pass a maths GCSE, so it’s really important that the message about the free courses on offer is relayed to fans at prestigious and popular events like this.   We know we can count on the British Darts Organisation for their continued support in encouraging adults to find out more about learning and get engaged, which is why I wanted to thank them personally for their efforts today.

“The free courses around the country have already helped over one million adults gain a literacy, language or maths qualification, and if you want to learn more you should give us a call on 0800 100 900.”

Olly Croft, Head of the British Darts Organisation, added:

“We are delighted to host a Government Minister at the Championships for the second year and are pleased that we’ve been able to ensure that the Get On campaign scratchcards, beermats and ‘check-out calculators’ will be so visible during the Championships.  Everyone involved in the sport knows the mental agility needed to play competitively and we’d encourage everyone to consider improving their skills, by phoning 0800 100 900.”  

Ends.

To arrange interviews, request further details or imagery, please contact the Get On campaign Press Office, on 020 7544 3130.

Sample case study – more available on request.

Helen Rigg, 38 is a mother of two who left school without any maths qualifications.  She started playing darts at 19 but had difficulty working out the sums and relied on her friends for help.  With regular practice in the pub and also working out more darts sums at home, she found that she improved quickly and had a talent for the sport and started playing for Southam League.  She now plays regularly for Warwickshire County.   Improving her sums with darts has really built up her confidence with maths, to the extent that she is now enrolled on an accountancy course.

Notes to Editors

1.The survey was carried out on Thursday 20^th October during the final qualifiers for the Lakeside World Pro at Bridlington.  109 players took part, of which 88 per cent said that a good grasp of mental arithmetic and numbers improves chances of success at darts, as well as enjoyment of the sport.

2. The Prime Minister launched the Skills for Life Strategy in 2001 to tackle the legacy of adults with poor literacy, language and numeracy skills within England.   The Strategy aims to help create a society where adults have the basic skills they need to find and keep work and participate fully in society, through:

·        Boosting demand for learning

·        Ensuring capacity of the learning provider delivery system

·        Improving standards of teaching and learning

·        Increasing learner achievement

3.   The Get On Campaign is part of the Skills for Life Strategy for improving adult literacy, language (ESOL - English for Speakers of Other Languages) and numeracy skills, in order to boost the demand for literacy, language and numeracy learning.

4.   The Skills for Life National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and IT skills, published in October 2003, estimated that in England, 5.2 million adults aged 16-55 have literacy levels below Level 1 (the level of skills required to achieve a GCSE at grades D – E), and 14.9 million have numeracy skills below this level.

5.   Government has committed to improving the literacy and numeracy skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010, with an interim target of 1.5 million by 2007.  The government is on track to meet the target, having achieved the milestone to help 750,000 adults to achieve their first literacy, language or numeracy qualification by 2004.