Dunning Kruger Effect

I have written before about how as a Numeracy Leader I often felt like an imposter. I felt like I didn’t have the knowledge, experience and leadership qualities I needed to be successful in the role. Looking back I can see that this is a very common feeling to experience, and one I have observed in the Numeracy Leaders I work with inside my Numeracy Teachers Academy. It is a 'game' our brain likes to play with us!

The other day I read about another 'game' which also influences our judgement and decisions. It happens when our brain comes up inaccurate and/or illogical conclusions about our level of knowledge. Basically, our brain is adding 1 and 1 and coming up with 3!

It is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. (Dunning-Kruger, 1999).

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes how people with low abilities in a particular area tend to overestimate their skills and knowledge. They lack the knowledge to recognize their own limitations and therefore believe they are more competent than reality suggests.

You could sum this up as: ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. I am sure you have seen this many times in your career, whether it be in students, pre-service teachers, parents, school leaders or 'experts' in the field! Parents of teenagers, you will probably experience this on a daily basis! 

I have seen the D-K effect play out over and over again running parent 'maths' evenings. 

If you have facilitated a parent information session in maths or even just had a parent teacher interview, you will appreciate the challenge the D-K effect presents when working with parents. Compared to qualified teachers, most* parents are not as knowledgeable/up to date with contemporary mathematical teaching methods/approaches.

*some are!

Parents may believe that there is 'not much to' the teaching of maths (I have actually had a parent tell me "It's primary school maths, how hard can it be to teach?" ).

Often parents feel 'compelled' to share their opinions and experiences related to their own primary school maths career. I am sure you have experienced the conversations that start with “when I went to school…” or “we didn’t do it this way and we are fine”.

Most* are not trying to be difficult, they just don't know what they don't know!

*Some are!

In these situations we often find ourselves on the other side of the D-K effect. This sees us, who have high abilities and levels of knowledge in a particular area (teaching maths) underestimating our skills and knowledge, assuming that others (often those parents who are questioning us) possess a similar level of expertise. This could be summed up as “the more you know, the more you think you don’t know”.

It is important for us to understand how these interactions can challenge and make us doubt ourselves. In these situations, it is important to 'back yourself'. Be confident in your knowledge and realise when we have interactions with people, sometimes they just don't know what they don't know!

All we can do is share our knowledge and nudge people towards seeking a better understanding. I have many parents and teachers come to me after I run sessions and say... "I have learnt so much, I had no idea how complicated learning maths is... thanks for sharing... I want to find out more about this".

Take this as a win... educating people is about sparking an interest and making them think.

So whether it is interacting with your fellow leaders, teachers or parents (or your resident teenager) this week, I encourage you to be confident in what you are sharing, remember that no one knows everything (and often the people who question you think they know more than they actually do!) and keep pushing and challenging those around you to learn something new about the teaching and learning of maths.

Have a great week!

Dunning, D., & Kruger, J. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121