Mathematics education in the United Kingdom

Mathematics education in the United Kingdom is largely carried out at ages 11–16 at secondary school. However most advanced Mathematics education in the UK takes place from 16-18, mostly in the sixth form. Mathematics education is not taught uniformly as exams and the syllabus vary across nation states, notably Scotland.

History

The School Certificate was established in 1918, for education up to 16, with the Higher School Certificate for education up to 18; these were both established by the Secondary Schools Examinations Council (SSEC), which had been established in 1917.

1960s

The Joint Mathematical Council was formed in 1963 to improve the teaching of mathematics in UK schools. The Ministry of Education had been created in 1944, which became the Department of Education and Science in 1964. The Schools Council was formed in 1964, which regulated the syllabus of exams in the UK, and existed until 1984.

Before calculators, many calculations would be done by hand with slide rules and log tables.

1970s

Decimal Day, on 15 February 1971, allowed less time on numerical calculations at school. The Metric system has curtailed lengthy calculations as well; the USA, conversely, largely does not have the metric system.

1980s

Electronic calculators began to be owned at school from the early 1980s, becoming widespread from the mid-1980s. Parents and teachers believed that calculators would diminish abilities of mental arithmetic. Scientific calculators came to the aid for those working out logarithms and trigonometric functionss.

Since 1988, exams in Mathematics at age sixteen, except Scotland, have been provided by the GCSE.

1990s

From the 1990s, mainly the late 1990s, computers became integrated into mathematics education at primary and secondary levels in the UK.

Nations

England

Mathematics education in England up to the age of 19 is provided, in the state sector, by the Department for Education, which was established in 2010.

Wales

Wales takes the GCSE and A-level in Mathematics, but has its own Department for Education and Skills. Wales does not produce school league tables.

Scotland

Education Scotland, formed in 2011, regulates education at school in Scotland, with qualifications monitored by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Mathematics syllabus follows the country's Curriculum for Excellence. Scotland does not produce school league tables.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is the only country in the UK to have exclusively selective schools - it has sixty nine grammar schools. Mathematics education is provided by the Department of Education (DENI), with further education provided by the Department for Employment and Learning.

Primary level

The Department of Education and Science set up an Assessment of Performance Unit in 1976 to monitor attainment of children at a national level, with standards of mathematics being monitored from 1978 by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Before this time, assessment of primary school standards had not been carried out at a national level.

Children at primary school are expected to know their times tables. Mostly they are not introduced to algebra. Children are taught about long division, fractions, decimals, averages, ratios, negative numbers, and long multiplication.

Secondary level

Study of Mathematics is compulsory up to the school leaving age. In general females, more than males, suffer from mathematical anxiety. An adverse form of mathematical anxiety is called dyscalculia.

Since the introduction of the GCSE, dumbing down has reduced the content of the Mathematics syllabus. Independent schools have a noted higher record in Mathematics than state schools, but they have a selective intake.

Sixth-form level

At A-level, participation by gender is broadly mixed; about 60% of A-level entrants are male, and around 40% are female.[1] Further Mathematics is an additional course available at A-level. A greater proportion of females take Further Maths (30%) than take Physics (15%), which at A-level is overwhelmingly a male subject.

University level

Admission to Mathematics at university in the UK will require three A-levels, often good A-levels. It is prevalently males who study Maths at university, and has been for decades.

See also

References

  1. ↑ A level entrants at STEM subjects in 2015 by gender
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