Sunak’s math enthusiasm isn’t very likely to rub off on Britons
PremiumHe has identified a problem but doesn’t have a workable solution
There may be only one thing in Britain that animates and divides more than Prince Harry’s airing of the royal family laundry. That would be Rishi Sunak’s proposal to extend mandatory math education to all students up to the age of 18. Sunak, like Harry, hit a nerve.
Unlike most advanced countries, UK students can stop studying math at the age of 16; about half do. Sunak argues, not unreasonably, that this is a problem given the demands of the modern world of work. Only his solution doesn’t quite provide the fix he’s looking for.
Views on teaching math, or maths as it’s called in Britain, tend to be visceral, as actor Simon Pegg’s expletive-filled viral tweet on the proposal attests (hint: Pegg isn’t a fan). If you are a mathie — you probably had decent teachers, mastered concepts quickly and enjoyed problem-solving — then your feelings around the subject are likely to be positive, even a little smug. To the mathie, this equation is simple; more input equals greater output. It’s about time Britain caught up. It’s worrying that so many joke, or at least shrug, about being terrible at math.
If you’re a mathphobe, you likely had a very different experience, ranging from discomfort to outright trauma. You found success in your mostly math-free world. The math you learned by 16 was sufficient. You either don’t see why anyone like you should be forced to endure math class a minute longer than necessary. There are also those who were accidental math drop-outs, because the UK system penalizes risk-taking. It disproportionately rewards high exam results and so most students narrow their subjects to three from the age of 16.
Some of my most mathphobic friends, or those better characterized as math-avoidant, fall into that category. They were quick to sign their kids up to Kumon courses and private tutoring. Others vowed not to force their kids to experience the math shame they endured and encouraged their other interests.
There are important debates about innate ability and whether the way math is taught discourages many kids too early. Jennifer Ruef, an expert in math learning at the University of Oregon, has argued that our idea of what “being good at math" means is outdated. Rote knowledge and recitation can be useful in building a foundation, but speed is not necessarily an indicator of math ability. If being fast is a requirement, the result can be anxiety which can shut down working memory. Nor does it teach patient problem-solving or discovery. That kind of imposed agility means that many kids who could be math enthusiasts or at least at peace with the subject, never get there.
Sunak clearly falls into the mathie category. His family valued math learning; his diligence and early success helped him excel in school and later in his finance career. The math initiative is something he broached during the leadership campaign in the summer, not some gimmick he devised to distract attention from striking workers. In this, Sunak follows a long line of Tory initiatives. Michael Gove, David Cameron and Theresa May all had ambitious plans to square existing levels of attainment, set up special institutions or extend the age of compulsory math learning. A former education secretary by the name of Liz Truss took a trip to Shanghai in 2014 to try to discover what made China (and also Singapore) a world leader in math. (The Chinese, she marveled, “have a can-do attitude to maths, which contrasts with the long-term anti-maths culture that exists here.")
Achievement levels of UK pupils have been steadily improving, but a study by UCL concluded that PISA scores in math have been inflated by unrepresentative sampling. Britain still lags many advanced countries and there are huge disparities between the highest achieving students (who tend to come from independent schools or from certain minority ethnic backgrounds where there is a particular focus on math learning) and more disadvantaged pupils.
It’s not clear a new post-16 qualification will solve that. Along with a shortage of nurses and fruit-pickers, Britain has a shortage of math and science teachers in the country; 45% of secondary schools reported they use non-specialist teachers to deliver some math lessons in 2021. One deputy head of a state school I spoke to said the math and science teachers they hired in recent years came from the US and Canada.
Schools are also grappling with massive pandemic learning gaps at all age levels and overly stretched budgets despite a recent increase in education spending. The government’s priority should be helping to close the gaps by giving schools access to more short-term tutoring, which has been shown to be effective in improving skills.
But is forcing additional math learning on a 16-year-old with other inclinations the right use of limited resources? It could have knock-on effects. Britain’s university admission system — unlike America’s — is almost entirely based on exam grades in three subjects, known as A Levels, in the final two years of high school. Sunak made clear that he’s not talking about imposing a rigorous A-level math accreditation on all. But it’s unclear what a new post-16 requirement would look like and how would it fit with existing resource and scheduling demands.
Changing a pretty rigid system will take more time than the government has before the next election. So, in some sense, the debate is academic. Sunak, like others, has stated the problem; he’s not yet found the formula to solve it.
Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics.
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