Helping Young Minds Count: The Importance of Early Number Sense in Education

Numbers are an integral part of our daily lives, both inside and outside of school. We encounter numbers on food labels, thermometers, rulers, and scales, to name just a few examples. In everyday activities, we use numbers to measure distances, manage household budgets, conduct retail transactions and interpret sports statistics, among many other activities. Numeracy skills empower individuals to engage in symbolic reasoning, enabling them to solve complex mathematical problems. These skills are also linked to effective decision-making in real-life situations (Pickering et al., 2025).  Proficiency with numbers is crucial for academic success, career opportunities, and daily functioning.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that children’s trajectories in mathematics are shaped early. Foundational mathematical knowledge at school entry is a strong and consistent predictor of later achievement, with effects that persist through primary and even secondary schooling (Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014; Nguyen et al., 2016; as summarised in Norris, 2024). Children who begin school with low numeracy skills are significantly more likely to continue struggling with mathematics across their schooling years, and early gaps in understanding tend to widen over time if left unaddressed (Jordan et al., 2009; Morgan, Farkas, & Wu, 2009).

Early mathematics skills are also associated with broader life outcomes, including educational attainment, employment prospects, and financial decision-making in adulthood (Parsons & Bynner, 2005; Ritchie & Bates, 2013). As highlighted in Norris (2024), this evidence reinforces the need to ensure all children get off to a strong start in developing key foundational skills —particularly number sense — during the early years of schooling.

This report builds on previous work in early numeracy screening to examine the critical role of number sense in the early years. It is structured in three parts. The first section defines number sense and outlines its significance in early cognitive and mathematical development. The second section explores how difficulties with number sense arise, how they can be identified through effective early screening, and why timely identification is essential. The final section presents practical, evidence-based instructional strategies and classroom routines that educators can use to support number sense development in all learners.

Definitions

Number sense: Foundational number competencies involving knowledge of number, number relations, and number operations.

Subitising: The ability to quickly ascertain the quantity of a set (4 or less) without counting.

Conceptual subitising: The ability to see that a larger set can be broken into smaller subitisable sets.

Numeral: A symbol denoting a number.

One-to-one correspondence: Each object in a set is counted only once.

Stable order principle: Counting words follow a stable order (e.g., 1, 2, 3)

Cardinality principle: Understanding that the last number word said when counting a set of objects indicates the quantity of the set

Numerical magnitude: The size of a number. Magnitude allows comparison of the size of numbers.

Level of representation: The way a quantity is represented, including non-symbolic (represented with pictures or objects without symbols) and symbolic (represented with spoken number words or written numerals)

Set size: The number of items in a set.

Number line:  A visual representation of numbers on a straight line, where numbers are placed at equal intervals.

Number list or path: A concrete version of the number line.

Nonverbal calculation: A task used to assess early number operations, where a child is shown a small set of objects, which is then covered. The set is transformed by adding (or taking away) one or more objects into (or from) the cover. The child must indicate how many objects are hidden under the cover after the transformation.

Fluency: Efficient problem solving, either through quick mental calculation or automatic retrieval