Prime minister Rishi Sunak has been warned that he needs to “break the doom loop” for mathematics in order to boost attainment, as he prepares to set out plans for post-16 maths study this afternoon.
Today, Mr Sunak is expected to announce his plan to ensure all pupils in England study some form of maths until the age of 18, as part of his mission to combat high rates of innumeracy in England.
However, an ex-political adviser in the Department for Education has warned that the prime minister must break a “doom loop”, which is currently causing there to be insufficient numbers of maths teachers with a specialist background.
Several other sector leaders have warned that staffing levels could be a “barrier” to the policy, with entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) programmes in maths in 2022-23 being 10 per cent short of government targets.
And teaching leaders said the announcement amounts to a “piecemeal” approach to education policymaking, which “overlooks” the chance to reform curriculum more broadly.
Speaking to Tes this morning, Mark Lehain, a special adviser to former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, said that the policy would only work if policymakers closed the “doom loop”, which meant not enough specialist maths teachers were being produced.
“There are not enough people studying mathematical subjects long enough and because we don’t have enough mathematical graduates, we struggle to get enough maths teachers with a mathematical background,” he said.
“This means that kids don’t necessarily get the quality of maths education that we want them to,” he added.
Fellow sector experts also suggested that the recruitment of maths teachers would also be key to realising Mr Sunak’s vision.
Steve Rollett, deputy CEO at the Confederation for School Trusts, said that the “barriers” to overcome to implement Mr Sunak’s policy - “especially regarding staffing” - were “clear”.
Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, added that while lots of young pupils liked maths, “learning it requires students having a great teacher to teach them.”
And Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Education Research, said that not enough maths teachers were being recruited for the current targets and “any new policy and implementation would involve higher targets for maths teachers to implement this”.
“That would not be easy and would need something to be done on supply,” he added. “This isn’t something that non-specialist teachers can easily pick up either. So it needs those specialist teachers, otherwise it will be really poorly implemented, which obviously one hopes is not the intention of the policy.”
Policy ‘overlooks’ wider reform
Some teaching leaders criticised the policy as being “piecemeal” and ignoring the overall need for broader curriculum reform.
Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, described Mr Sunak’s plan as “well-intentioned” but warned that “there are more urgent priorities than maths to 18 for all”.
She said a shortage of maths teachers would need to be addressed, but also pointed out that policymakers need to “focus on understanding how best to support young people - particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds - to achieve a good grounding in maths by the age of 16.”
Dame Alison Peacock called the announcement “a very knee-jerk response to an ongoing issue” about “how we make sure our education is fit for purpose in our schools and colleges”.
She said: “We - and the profession as a whole across colleges and schools - are happy to engage with questions about reform and vision-setting, but we’re frustrated to see announcements like this. It feels like doing things piecemeal.
“It also begs a question about our exam structure and curriculum structure as it is. Should we be looking at an International Baccalaureate structure where we have an overall broader curriculum to 18?
“Putting a sticking plaster on and saying ‘We can all study maths to 18’ seems to have come from nowhere. It’s taking one possible aspect of broader reform to education and plonking it into a policy. It feels like a soundbite.”
The government should be bolder
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chair of the Sutton Trust and chair of the Education Endowment Foundation, said the plan was “welcome” but only a “good first step” and that it needed to be “more ambitious”.
“Maths is just the tip of the iceberg. The government should be bolder. Wherever you look, from France and Germany to the US and China, you find a broader and more balanced baccalaureate-style model of school-leaving certificate taking in at least six or seven subjects.
“This means that students can make subject and university choices much later, and they graduate from school with a far wider range of knowledge.”
He added: “Sunak’s ambitions to raise maths skills across the country are right and are to be welcomed, but it is just a small step in the right direction. We need to see more ambitious action.”
Similarly, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “Sunak’s plan is disappointing - not only in its lack of realism but also in its lack of vision. It overlooks the increasingly detailed and urgent discussions about curriculum reform that have been taking place across the education sector and even within his own party.
“There is a widespread consensus in favour of change, in the form of an integrated qualifications system that offers every student opportunities to include academic and vocational elements alongside accreditation for skills development and inter-disciplinary study.
“There is certainly a place for maths education in proposals like these. But as a single bright idea, it is not an answer to the problems of a curriculum that is failing to prepare students for a world of change.”
Professor Geraint Jones, executive director and associate pro-vice-chancellor of the National Institute of Teaching and Education, said he was “stunned” that this is the first education announcement from Mr Sunak “given the crisis facing the sector”.
“Teachers are leaving in droves, there are huge holes in recruitment targets, talks of strikes and schools struggling to pay the bills,” he said. “I agree students should continue with maths and English in some form until 18, to bring the UK into line with many other high-performing countries, but this policy will have to be backed by investment and a proper workforce plan.
“We have far bigger problems to address first,” he added.
Policy needs to be ‘skilfully positioned’
Experts have also suggested that the detail to follow the policy announcement will be key to its success.
David Miles, chair of the teaching committee at The Mathematical Association, said that the group “cautiously” welcomed the proposal, given previous policies had not delivered a significant uptake in the study of post-16 maths.
“The current suite of qualifications, including GCSE maths, core maths, A-level maths and A-level further maths, may not be sufficient to meet the needs of all learners and it is likely that alternative courses will need to be developed,” he added.
Mr Rollett said: ”Our education system has a longstanding narrative of individual choice as the basis of specialisation as students progress through their education. This starts earlier in our country than in many others and is deeply held by many parents and students.
“Whether it’s right or wrong, a requirement that all post-16 students continue with maths, including those with a grade 4 or better at GCSE, will need to be skilfully positioned and delivered. It will also require students entering this phase to feel positive and successful in relation to maths. This speaks as much to what happens pre-16 as it does to what happens after.”
The UK remains one of the only countries in the world that does not require children to study some form of maths up to the age of 18.
To realise the policy, the government does not apparently envisage making maths A level compulsory for all 16-year-olds and further detail will be set out in due course.
Ministers are instead exploring existing routes, such as the core maths qualifications and T levels, as well as more innovative options.
