Sunak’s ‘bold’ move to make maths compulsory post-16

Courtney Bridges

SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

Starting off the year with… Maths?

In Rishi Sunak’s first speech of 2023, he announced in a pledge to “reimagine our approach to numeracy” that he will be introducing a policy directing pupils to study ‘some’ form of maths until 18, rather than the traditional compulsory requirement of studying core subjects like Maths and English until 16.

Current explorations of the ‘right route’ to do this include the consideration of Core Maths qualifications, T-levels and “more innovative options” in an effort to combat how:

“Right now, just half of all 16-year-olds study any maths at all. Yet in a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, our children’s jobs will require more analytical skills than ever before.”

This comes after cross-country comparisons, as the Government have defended this decision by emphasising how this would mean England would be on par with ‘most other OECD countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway and the United States’.

However, while the Prime Minister and Downing Street are excited about this “new mission”, they have been met with mixed reactions – from enthusiastic support to angered backlash.

On the one hand, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza has welcomed the decision:

“Having a good grasp on numbers is helpful at all stages of life and can open the door to some fascinating and rewarding careers”, Though her opinion is not met with agreement by the Opposition and the general public.

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has said this is nothing but an “empty pledge”, and that without campaigning to increase training and recruitment of maths teachers, it is a doomed quest from the outset. Mathematician, Kit Yates, speaks to this in expressing concern for the feasibility for the already unclear plan:

“Against the backdrop of a long-term shortage in maths teachers, the government again failed to meet its target for recruitment in 2022 despite significantly reducing that target.

Almost half of all secondary schools are already using non-specialist teachers for maths lessons.

… no extra funding has been promised to sixth-forms and further education colleges, which would be responsible for shouldering most of the burden of implementing this plan.”

The issue of training and employment is therefore incredibly pertinent given the speech’s context amid nation-wide strikes across industrial services, the NHS, Civil Service, universities, and teachers. Something people were expecting to be touched on more in the PM’s first address of the year to the nation.

No only is this a matter of practicality, but one of educational, career and personal liberty. For, it is with such a decision under a PM whose background lies in finance that concern for the humanities, arts and creatives have been highlighted. Further embellishing a ‘subject hierarchy’ within academic centres and beyond despite growing challenges to this, particularly post-Covid as wider society is consequently undergoing a re-evaluation of the ‘worth’ or various learning strengths and career paths.

Many have also spoken to this side of the debate, including Simon Pegg who announced his outrage over an Instagram story update (@ simonpegg) in perhaps a more extreme view, suggesting that the decision appears to emphasise the PM’s desire to create a “drone army of date-entering robots”, and a willingness to disregard “fostering this country’s amazing reputation for creativity and self-expression”.

So, could this be a slippery slope in terms of, to be frank, democracy, if viewed in this way. Or is this born out of pure concern for the nation’s youth, numerical intelligence, and personal as well as national prosperity?

Currently, it is uncertain how this route may take shape in the coming years, another change to England’s education system, following Michael Gove’s GCSE and A level reforms over four years of restructure during his time as Secretary of State for Education (2010-14).

But what is certain is that this is another Conservative policy dividing the Commons and the Public and will likely be a large influence over voting decisions in the 2024 election.