Contrary to the popular belief that England has an “anti-maths mindset”, students at the age of 15 have positive attitudes and proficiency in the subject, according to international research.
But the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report warns that, despite this positive mindset towards maths, the proportion of young people choosing to study the subject after the age of 16 is very low.
It says that this country’s post-16 maths study only caters to “a small elite group” and many students who are proficient in the subject and enjoy it stop studying it after their GCSEs.
The OECD describes this situation around maths in England as “a paradox”.
The report was produced at the request of the Department for Education.
When he was prime minister leading the previous government, Rishi Sunak announced a plan for a new Advanced British Standard - a post-16 qualification to replace A levels and T levels that would result in all students studying maths to the age of 18.
Students in England ‘aren’t against maths’
The OECD report highlights a perception that there is an “anti-maths mindset” among students in the UK.
It refers to a national review of the subject carried out for the government in 2008 that found the country “remains one of the few advanced nations where it is socially acceptable - fashionable, even - to profess an inability to cope with mathematics”.
However, the OECD report says it found that 15-year-olds in England expressed greater enjoyment and confidence in maths compared with their peers on average across the 38 OECD countries.
The report adds that: “Contrary to the perception that it is OK not to be good at mathematics in England, the country’s young people do not perform, on average, lower in mathematics compared to reading comparative to other countries.”
It says that in a phase of schooling it refers to as “grade 4” - when pupils are around 9.5 years old - England has an average score for maths of 556, the third highest among OECD countries.
In “grade 8” - when students are around 13.5 years old - the performance of students in England in maths falls slightly, but remains above the average of other OECD countries such as Finland, Norway, and Portugal.
‘Limited range of options’ for maths post-16
The report suggests that the low participation in maths post-16 in England “stems from the structural and policy environment”. Challenges include “a limited range of options for continuing mathematics post-16 when compared with other systems”.
And it warns that the lower number taking maths beyond GCSE potentially reduces the pool of individuals with maths skills across society and in the country’s workforce.
The report highlights how in 2015 GCSE maths was changed to increase the level of demand, and a new programme for 16- to 18-year-olds, Core Maths, was introduced to boost achievement
However, it adds that in 2023 less than 2 per cent of young people achieved the new Core Maths qualification, according to DfE data.
The report is based on data taken from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study.
When the previous government announced its plan to create the Advanced British Standard, at the Conservative Party conference in October last year, it said the reform would take time to implement and that pupils who had just started primary school that term would be the first to study it.
Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that the Advanced British Standard would not be going ahead after her Party’s election victory.
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