The integration for future educational innovation on abacus maths is underway. We received a supportive response from the Scottish Government regarding our initiative of improving education in numeracy for children and young people with visual impairments by using the abacus, which is already recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament), gave a detailed response including the most up to date information about legislation and policy regarding the Scottish education system; in addition, she highlighted relevant educational institutes and organizations who may be interested in this approach.
In response to a broad range of current educational issues discovered in our previous article, we will develop a multi-phase project of the integration to explore educational innovation. At the current planning phase, the aims are the completion of new teaching methods of basic arithmetic operations; the initiation of knowledge integration and structuring an education ecosystem.
“Creating new teaching methods is the crux and the fundamental priority at this phase.” Tsao, Pei-Ling said, the president of the British Abacus Association. The new teaching methods have been developed for nearly three years to improve teaching and make the whole of the learning process more effective. Meanwhile, the provision of guidance and resources from our consultants will interweave the collaboration and communication of multiple stakeholders among Taiwan, France and Scotland in the first place to structure an education ecosystem. Special thanks for the advice from Joe FitzPatrick MSP.
(Update: On account of the Scottish Cabinet reshuffle in March/April, Jenny Gilruth MSP was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills; Joe FitzPatrick MSP was appointed as Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning.)
British Abacus Association (BAA)