Jess Lewis
Maths in the UK currently stands as a compulsory subject until 16 years old, yet many other countries such as Australia, Germany, France, the USA, and Japan have some form of maths education until they are 18. So why is the UK different, and should we really be teaching maths till 18? Jess Lewis enlightens us on whether or not the idea would be fruitful.
In January of last year, Rishi Sunak announced plans for the conservative party to make a form of maths education compulsory until the age of 18 for all students, quoting the importance of numeracy skills in economic growth and acquiring well-paying jobs. With the importance of statistics and numbers growing in our current job sector, this has some merit, but what else is there to consider?
Maths is employable! It’s the language of science and highly desirable across many industries.
Maths is employable! It’s the language of science and highly desirable across many industries. It’s not just the knowledge of maths but the transferable skills that come with it. It provides students with a more structured way of thinking, making them more rational and analytical. It’s a requirement for many engineering, tech and finance jobs, so keeping it on the curriculum keeps more doors open.
We live in a maths-based world. Not only are the technology and generative intelligence we interact with on a daily basis based on numbers, but statistics drive the news, politics and workforce. Understanding the statistics that are constantly thrown at us allows us to make more logical decisions in our lives and be a more active member of politics.
adolescents who stopped studying maths were more disadvantaged in terms of brain and cognitive development compared to their peers who continued.
There’s science behind the benefits of studying maths. A study conducted by Oxford University in 2021 found that students who stopped learning maths between 16 and 18 years of age had a clear reduction of a chemical in their brain (gamma-aminobutyric acid), which is found to improve cognitive functions. It was observed that adolescents who stopped studying maths were more disadvantaged in terms of brain and cognitive development compared to their peers who continued. The study concluded that learning maths was important to support a more general education across both the arts and sciences but noted that not every young person enjoys maths and that they should “investigate possible alternatives […] that engage the same brain area as maths” with ideas such as logic and reasoning classes.
With the study’s conclusion introducing what may be the biggest issues with introducing compulsory maths education, many people simply don’t enjoy maths. Despite maths A-Level being the most popular subject with over 100,000 people siting the exams in 2024, it’s perceived as a hard and unenjoyable subject by many people. Leaving numerous educators and mathematicians fearing that the introduction of a subject that students don’t enjoy to their timetable would discourage them from their education as a whole.
Studies show that students report having less enjoyment in maths as they move through the education system. TIMSS found that 82% of students reported enjoying maths in year five, but this figure drops to 52% by year nine. In response, the Royal Society calls for the UK to update its teaching methods to take advantage of more updated technology and to shift the curriculum’s focus to include data and statistics that students are likely to encounter in our modern world, hoping this will increase students’ interest in the subject. But with an education system already struggling for specialist teachers across all subjects, including maths, the possibility of this reform is already highly questionable.
Jess Lewis
Featured image courtesy of Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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