Launch of the ACME Mathematical Needs project
Tuesday, 14-June-2011
ACME has published the final reports of its Mathematical Needs
project.
The slides from the launch are available to
download.
Press release
210,000 young people lack the mathematical knowledge
required for their university courses
210,000 students out of the 330,000 that
are studying courses that require mathematical knowledge beyond
GCSE do not have these required skills, causing problems for the
students and universities alike.
A report published today (14th June 2011) by
the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, Mathematical
Needs, analysed the mathematical content of a range of
university courses and found that there was a marked discrepancy
between the number of courses requiring mathematical skills beyond
GCSE and the number of people with these skills that the UK is
producing.
Chair of ACME Professor Dame Julia Higgins FREng FRS
said:
"Few students now study the requisite level of mathematics
to prepare them properly for higher education and many universities
have to downgrade the mathematical requirements for entry to their
courses in order to fill places. In the last thirty
years many university subjects have become more mathematical, but
the number of students with the appropriate level of mathematical
skills has not risen far enough to match this. The Advisory
Committee on Mathematics Education concludes that all young people
should study some form of mathematics to the age of eighteen in
order to better prepare them for higher education and the world of
employment. In order to do this, additional courses need to
be developed for study at the post-16 level."
The report is the result of a two-year investigation,
which also looked at the mathematical needs of employers and of the
learners themselves. Some of the key findings included:
- We need more young people to know more mathematics and to be
confident, robust and fluent in their use of it. Not only are
university courses increasingly quantitative in content, but there
is also a steady shift in the employment market away from manual
and low skill jobs and toward those requiring higher levels of
management expertise and problem-solving skills, many of which are
mathematical in nature.
- There are concerns that the current high stakes assessment
system in the form of 'league tables', creates a situation where
institutions are more accountable for results than for the
mathematical understanding of their pupils. This has a detrimental
effect on the ability of young people to apply mathematics and
creates long-term problems in both the workplace and higher
education.
- Good mathematics learning needs knowledgeable teachers, who can
draw on students' understanding, involve them in discussion, and
engage all students in a variety of complex tasks in which
mathematics is presented as a subject with many aspects. All
teachers should be entitled to subject specific continuing
professional development (CPD).
- Changes in commonplace technology also affect the kinds of
mathematical questions that can be asked and answered, and the way
that mathematics is used in the workplace. Learners need to
understand ideas and problems that could not even be asked by
earlier generations, and to become adept at answering them by
using, and developing, 21st century tools.
- Employers highlighted that to use mathematics confidently at
one level, experience of it at a higher level is required. However,
a common concern is that the demands of 'performance tables' may be
forcing schools to take low risk options and discourage students
from taking higher levels of mathematics - either at GCSE or at
A-level.
Dame Julia added:
"Mathematics underpins a wide variety of subjects and
disciplines, as well as existing as a subject in its own right. Our
investigations into the needs of the learners, and of Higher
Education and employers, found that students are leaving school
without the mathematical skills required for the next stages of
their lives, whether that is the workplace or further study.
This is a fundamental failing that must be addressed if we are to
have mathematically-literate future generations capable of rising
to the challenges of a new, more technologically-dependent and
competitive world."
Ends
For further information, a copy of the report or to
organise an interview, please contact:
Bill Hartnett bill.hartnett@royalsociety.org
/ 020 7451 2516
Notes
- The Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) is an
independent committee, based at the Royal Society and operating
under its auspices, which acts as a single voice for the
mathematical community on mathematics education issues, seeking to
improve the quality of such education in schools and colleges. It
advises Government on issues such as the curriculum, assessment and
the supply and training of mathematics teachers. ACME was
established by the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK and the
Royal Society, with the explicit backing of all major mathematics
organisations. ACME is currently supported by the Department for
Education, the Wellcome Trust, the Royal Society and a range of
other organisations across the STEM landscape. The current chair is
Professor Dame Julia Higgins FRS FREng.
- The research for this report was supported by the Nuffield
Foundation and the Clothworkers' Foundation.
- Once the embargo lifts, the report will be available at: http://acme-uk.org