Post-14 Mathematics Inquiry

The Government has launched a review into post-14 mathematics. The aim of the inquiry is to ensure that the UK has enough young people with good mathematical skills and knowledge that meets the needs of employers and of further and higher education.

Introduction

The Inquiry into Post-14 Mathematics was announced by Paul Boateng, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 23 July 2002 as part of the Government response 'Investing in Innovation: A Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology' to recommendations in Sir Gareth Roberts' report 'Set for Success: The supply of people with science, technology, engineering and mathematical skills'.
[HMT Press Notice 71/02]

On 25 November 2002 Professor Adrian Smith was announced as chair of the Post-14 Mathematics Inquiry. Minister of State for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education Margaret Hodge said “I am delighted that Adrian Smith has agreed to take on this challenging task. There has been unease about the current curriculum framework and the standards attained by those who pursue jobs or higher education study in areas which rely on good mathematical skills. The issues are complex and need to be fully understood. However, we are all determined to tackle them so that we provide young people with a mathematical education, which is fit for purpose. I am confident that Professor Smith has the qualities necessary to identify the key problem areas and make workable recommendations for the future. Getting this right is crucially important to individuals, universities, businesses and the wider economy."

The terms of reference for the Inquiry are: 'To make recommendations on changes to the curriculum, qualifications and pedagogy for those aged 14 and over in schools, colleges and higher education institutions to enable those students to acquire the mathematical knowledge and skills necessary to meet the requirements of employers and of further and higher education'.

The Inquiry will evaluate options and costs and will make its recommendations in Autumn 2003.

How to contribute

The Post-14 Mathematics Inquiry website contains all the latest information about the review and includes a list of key questions that they welcome comment on.

LTSN Engineering's Response to the Inquiry

Background

LTSN Engineering is one of the network of 24 centres of the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), which are funded by the higher education funding councils and are based in higher education institutions throughout the UK. The LTSN Network aims to promote high quality learning and teaching through the development and transfer of good practices in all subject disciplines, and to provide a 'one-stop shop' of learning and teaching resources and information for the HE community.

LTSN Engineering provides subject-based support to promote high quality learning and teaching in engineering education. We achieve this through the engagement of and interaction with UK engineering academics and the wider engineering community, providing a focus for discussion and debate, and creating a facility that has national ownership.

Input Factors

Policy/Strategy/Teaching Resources

It is generally recognised that there is an urgent need to improve the general mathematical skills of society. From ensuring that the population has a good grasp of basic numeracy to be able to make simple, everyday calculations through to increasing the percentage of the population with higher levels skills (i.e. A-level, University). The principal transition phases are (i) Primary - Secondary, (ii) GCSE - A-level and (iii) A-level - University, each of which encounters a range of pedagogic and educational barriers. The recent developments at Primary level mathematics do appear to be making a difference and giving students a good grounding in their mathematics at the important early stage. However these students will not enter HE for another 8-10 years and so provision needs to be made to ensure those currently in the Secondary system are able to develop necessary maths skills both for life and for more advanced study at University.

With regard to developing a larger cohort of the population with higher level skills, the GCSE - A-level transition is arguably the primary concern, for an increase in this number provides a larger student base for higher levels of learning in HE. These are the people who hold the key to improving post-14 mathematics - improving the supply of people with mathematical skills will lead to an increase the number of well-qualified enthusiastic teachers of mathematics in schools. If this is not done, no amount of changing assessment regimes, or the curriculum, or the introduction of more ICT will make any significant difference. Moreover once the number of good mathematics teachers begins to increase there will be positive feedback. It is recognised that this is something which will be very difficult to achieve but the short aim has to be to reduce the rate of decline. A long term consistent strategy over at least a decade is needed.

Increased financial support for trainee teachers and better pay for teachers has already done something to help, however declining recruitment to HE mathematics courses over recent years has meant a decrease in the number of applications from maths graduates to teacher training courses. Also changes in schools over the past 10 years or so have made teaching mathematics a less attractive occupation than it used to be. We refer here to the great increase in testing and examinations, the demoralising effects of league tables and so on. A recent survey of incoming students has showed that the children of teachers were less likely to be consider teaching as a career than others.

Much of the extra money that has been provided in schools is for special projects. In many cases it has to be bid for, and the subsequent expenditure has to be justified in relation to the project. This increases bureaucratic workloads on teachers. Is the overall effect that the extra money is spent more effectively than if it had just been used to increase baseline funding? Against this background specialist schools and other initiatives are viewed with some concern. In relation to Mathematics and Science the question has to be asked: Is it expected that Specialist Schools in these subjects will offer better provision than other schools? If the answer to this is “yes” there are concerns about the implications for pupils attending schools which do not have this status. In large cities pupils can travel to local Specialist Schools without difficulty, but in the smaller towns, which can only support a few high schools, the absence of a Specialist Science and Mathematics school could have dire consequences. The aim must be to achieve good Mathematics provision in all schools.

Parents/Learners

Mathematics is perceived to be hard and not career related. People in the media readily admit to being unable to perform basic mathematics, however few would be willing to admit to similar inabilities to read or write. Reinforcing how important mathematics is to everyday life (i.e. how to calculate how much interest you're paying on a credit card) would help improve the image to parents who could then pass on positive views of maths to their children.

User Requirements

Engineering is one of the key disciplines in Higher Education with a special interest in the mathematical capabilities of their new undergraduates. However it should be remembered that the mathematical capabilities of new undergraduates are a concern of many disciplines in both major (mathematics, physical sciences, economics, business studies, etc.) and minor (medicine, health sciences, biosciences, computer sciences, etc.) ways. Engineering and the major disciplines require a common baseline of mathematical knowledge and skills and one function of A-level studies is to prepare students appropriately. In particular, it is assumed that new students in engineering will have:

mastered a range of basic mathematical skills in arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry and calculus.
acquired the ability (via A-level applied mathematics and physics) to apply these mathematical skills to the solution of problems in Newtonian mechanics.

There is now a widespread perception and evidence across the HE sector that students entering engineering courses in 2002 are much less prepared than previously. This perception follows from an awareness that both A-level Mathematics and A-level Physics have undergone significant changes during the past decade; changes that were well intentioned and designed to increase student access, yet have had serious consequences for HE in terms of the level of preparation of new students.

It is not just the basic, pure maths skills that have declined but additionally the ability to apply mathematics to the solution of engineering problems. The reasons for the decline in students' ability to apply mathematics appear to be twofold:

a systematic purging of mathematics from A-level physics over the past decade
a reduction in the number of mechanics modules taken by students as part of their A-level applied mathematics course. [Some students are only offered one mechanics module and where more mechanics modules are available students are advised to take only one module in order to enhance their chances of achieving a good grade.]

In a 2001 survey conducted by LTSN Engineering on the major issues in engineering education the decreasing mathematical knowledge and skills acquired at 'A' level came out as one of the top issues with 86% of engineering academics rating it as 'important' or 'very important'. This was second only to the limited resources (time & facilities) available for innovation in higher education. Therefore LTSN Engineering have found it necessary to take a proactive role to alleviate the situation in universities by, for example, running numerous seminars on supporting engineering students in their learning of mathematics.

LTSN Engineering, through collaboration with LTSN Maths, Stats & OR Network, LTSN Physical Sciences and the UK Centre for Materials Education, the LTSN MathsTEAM project has been established to produce resources on diagnostic testing, supporting students and teaching maths within the context of a discipline. The LTSN MathsTEAM project has conducted an in-depth survey of current resources and teaching methods used in teaching mathematics to the engineering, mathematics and physical science communities. It has commissioned over 70 case studies of innovative practice which provide a source of information to aid departments in identifying current resources and practices and make informed decisions on what could work for their department when addressing the challenge of teaching mathematics to their students. [For further information please see: www.ltsn.ac.uk/mathsteam]

LTSN Engineering, along with other LTSN subject centres, has also been successful in gaining funding to pump-prime the establishment of the UK Mathematics Learning Support Centre (mathcentre), which will help universities to address a key recommendation in the Engineering Council's report “Measuring the Mathematics Problem”, namely that prompt and effective support should be available to all students arriving at university inadequately prepared for the mathematical demands of their chosen programme. The Centre will develop and make available samples of supporting materials of immediate use to university professionals and their students, using a mix of modern and traditional techniques. mathcentre is currently in development and will be a mechanism for delivering resources to alleviate the school/university interface problem in mathematics. They will provide a cost-effective means to enable any institution to develop or enhance local supporting mechanisms as well as providing support direct to students. [For further information please see: www.mathcentre.ac.uk]

In conclusion, higher education has been aware for some time of a 'mathematics problem' that has arisen due to a rapid decline in students' mathematical skills between 1990 and 2002, and have been taking individual and collaborative steps to ensure that the transition from school to higher education is smooth. This is an area that requires further development if students entering HE continue to be ill-prepared for mathematically intensive courses.

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