Maths up to age 18

Wibbles

Sunak wants to make Mathematics compulsary up to age 18 for ALL pupils

I am sure that some forum members would like to comment on this idea ..... ?

Tori_Scope

I saw this on the news too @wibbles I'd also imagine that people would have quite strong views on this. What do you think about the proposal? 

Mimikyu

“Every opportunity I’ve had in life began with the education I was so fortunate to receive. And it’s the single most important reason why I came into politics: to give every child the highest possible standard of education,”
If he really wants to give every child the highest possible standard of education, making maths compulsory until 18 isn't the starting point I'd choose.

Tori_Scope

I think I'd tend to agree with you there @Mimikyu It wouldn't be my first priority.

bg844

Waste of time in my opinion. There’s a shortage of teachers in my area as it is and the extra amount of funding needed will be huge, regardless of what happens I think a full financial impact assessment will take place.

durhamjaide2001

I think if maths is required English should be too 

Hannah_Alumni

I think some of our teenagers have too much on.

At 14 you are told to plan your working life and choose options to match it. Then at 16 when you do further education, you pick options again.

Making them take math's can take one of those spots. Some schools already have mandatory classes. For example I had to take a citizenship class for three hours each week. I was also encouraged to have a job as, how else would I pay to have a social life with friends. And some already know they want to go to university and want to save for that. 

poppy123456

Waste of money in my opinion! My daughter did maths until she left college at almost 20. Having started school from the age of 4 all the years later she still didn’t understand any of it bless her. She still needed to count on her fingers even when adding single figures. 

The money would be better spent somewhere else. 

Wibbles

woodbine said:

A govt. grasping at straws literally, on the radio earlier a caller was explaining that her son last year got a GRADE 9 in his GCSE's apparently the equivilant of a double A, what would be the point of him continuing to study maths for a further two years ? non at all unless he wanted to be a maths teacher maybe?
I can't understand Sunak, promising to halve inflation by the end of this year, something that will happen anyway, promising to return the UK economy back to growth, which won't happen until 2024 when we are expected to have the lowest growth in the G7, promising to cut hospital waiting list, which definitely won't happen, and to stop the "boat people" he seems to forget that his own parents were immigrants to the UK.

The good news is that he stands as much chance of winning the next election as I do.

I got a grade A in O'level maths when I was 14 (my grammar school put its more able pupils in for Maths and English Lang a year early - and I was a year younger than the rest of my class)

O'levels were far harder than GCSE as well

Poppy_

I struggled with maths at school. It took me dropping a GCSE to get extra maths lessons to pass. I think lessons that would help during adulthood would be better, like how to manage finances and how to do a CV, etc would be more useful, as I never got either at school. 

Wibbles

Biblioklept said:

Wibbles said:

I got a grade A in O'level maths when I was 14 (my grammar school put its more able pupils in for Maths and English Lang a year early - and I was a year younger than the rest of my class)

O'levels were far harder than GCSE as well

I'd love to see a side by side of their exam questions as it's my understanding that the curriculum has gotten harder and children are learning stuff earlier, so what would have been A level for me is now year 9 for students etc. Which would indicate that GCSE now is harder than O Levels were. There's also more of a focus on understanding how it all works rather than rote learning of formulas.

Google says differently
They do modules through the year rather than a one off exam as well

Wibbles

woodbine said:

Both my kids did GCSE's in the early 2000's and I can tell you now that they worked dammed hard to achieve the grades they got, I did "O" levels in the 1970's and looking back they were in many ways easier.

Maybe you were more clever than your offspring?

Cher_Alumni

I do wonder (playing devil's advocate) if this is less about enhancing the quality of all children's education, or perhaps more about bragging rights in global rankings of 'educational excellence' and fixed notions of what makes people employable; an issue apparent in the shelving of humanities, in favour of STEM subjects. 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and is delivered, it will take some super creative teaching to inspire disenfranchised learners!

forgoodnesssake

Ludicrous idea that almost completely misses the point.  I have a particular interest in early years maths, and did train as a primary teacher (after a philosophy degree) about 100 years ago, but never taught.  Terrible course actually but the woman who did the maths bit was amazing and really opened my eyes to the fundamentals of maths and how abstract it really is. 

I didn't like it at school and wasn't very good, but I've actually got 2 0 levels!  In Scotland if you failed the "higher" level..which i did...you got a "complimentary 0 level"...how crazy is that given that to do H level you have to already have the 0 level?!...  but i digress.

What I learned from that brilliant tutor was that unless young children really understand the "two-ness of two"...ie that it is an unchanging quantity, not a digit "2" and not the second from the left on a number line, etc..they will find it very hard to move forward.  And what i saw when my kids (now 27, and 24 with athetoid CP) were young, was in fact infant teachers who had to use set work sheets, number lines, Deanes blocks or whatever, without necessarily really understanding the basics themselves.

So Mr Sunac, rather than investing time, energy and resources that you don't have on forcing teachers to teach 17 year olds who either don;t want to know, don't understand...or already have A level Further maths (give me strength!) invest in proper maths training for new teachers and give them the time and opportunity to ensure that 4 and 5 year olds really "get" early numeracy before they move on, because that's what the curriculum requires.  Then look at the results when they become 16 year olds...