The assumption that everybody gets from A to B in the same

“The assumption that everybody gets from A to B in the same time in mathematics is nonsense”, said one senior figure who gave evidence to the inquiry. But the problems with mathematics do not only lie within schools. Professor Smith’s report is expected to lambast universities for their failure to nurture mathematical talent or to encourage maths graduates to pursue teaching careers. The Government will be forced to face some awkward facts about the recruitment of maths teachers.

It is a crazy English trait to believe that a subject like maths can be sexed up by cramming it full of practic-al applications.”GCSE maths is expected to be particularly criticised in the report. The fact that 30 per cent of 16-year-olds are entered for the lowest of the exam’s three tiers, where the best grade they can achieve is a D, is a “national scandal”, say educationalists. With a C grade being the minimum standard needed for GCSE league table success, it is no wonder that these students feel their maths courses are pointless, they argue. The report is expected to resolve this by demanding a reform of maths courses so that every student learns basic numeracy, continues with the subject for longer and emerges with a meaningful qualification. The plans are “an absolute disaster” for students at the top of the ability range, he thinks “The drafts I have seen were simply awful. “How often do the majority of people need or use mathematical concepts once they have left school?”But Tony Gardiner, a reader in mathematics at Birmingham University who has seen a draft of the report, believes that Professor Smith’s proposals do not distinguish enough between the more and the less able. Terry Bladen, president of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, believes it is a waste of time teaching advanced mathematical concepts to the less able when they would never need them in later life.”I would always argue that pupils should be num-erate, with numeracy taught throughout all the key stages, but numeracy can be divorced from mathematics,” he says.

We don’t want a return to the old O-level and CSE structure where people are told they are too thick to do anything worthwhile at the age of 14.”Other maths experts would like the subject to be made optional from the age of 14. There seemed to be a suggestion that, at 14, students would embark on totally different routes towards totally different destinations. Roger Porkess, project leader of Mathematics in Education and Industry, an independent curriculum body, advocates a ladder of exams similar to music grades operating in maths, and opposes plans to recreate the O-level/CSE divide.”I was really horrified by what I was hearing at the reception,” he says “The issue of different pathways is really a big one. Professor Smith, however, would like an end to the “one-size-fits all” approach.He is thought to favour the creation of a range of pathways – both academic and vocational – so that every student can follow a maths course to match their ability and interests.

It should be possible for students to switch between pathways so that they do not restrict their choices too young. But his proposals received a stormy reception at a seminar of maths experts last autumn. Opinion is divided between those who want all students to study the same material, whatever their ability, albeit at different paces, and those who want students of different abilities to follow different courses. The plea – from the Mathematical Association – was that children should be taught how to use graphs, calculate speeds, and change money into foreign currencies. The key issue would be to solve the general question of how to get kids to do maths post-16.”But the transformation of teenagers’ maths lessons looks as though it will be the most controversial part of his report.