Trick or treat?

Chris Brignell, Deputy Director

I don’t really understand the attraction of Halloween – maybe because I’m seemingly unusual in not liking sweets so there is no point to me trick-or-treating – but nevertheless our office team have persuaded me to mark the Halloween season with a seasonal blog.  So, I’ve picked out some statistics in two recently published reports which should scare those involved in maths education, but you can skip to the treat if you prefer. 

 

Trick 1: Core Maths 

This week Tim Gill published an article in Research Matters about Core Maths – the qualification aimed to boost mathematical skills in post-16 students who have passed GCSE Maths but have opted not to study A level Maths. Uptake for this qualification remains low – only 11,522 entries in 2021/22 compared to the 200,000 students in the target group.  Uptake is highest amongst BTEC Engineering students, where a still underwhelming 8.3% of students take Core Maths.  For A levels, Geography does ‘best’ where 5.1% of students take Core Maths. For all other subjects, uptake is worse. Still, there is some good news – students who take Core Maths are more likely to achieve higher grades in subjects with a quantitative element such as A level Biology, Chemistry and Business Studies and BTEC Applied Science. So maybe the qualification can achieve its aim if the Core Maths Premium given to colleges persuades more students to take the qualification. 

Trick 2: Disadvantage gaps 

This week the Sutton Trust published a report reflecting on 20 years of school reform in England. From a maths perspective, the report highlights England’s improvement in the TIMSS international comparison between 1999 and 2019.  However, the report also contains some scary stats about the circumstances of pupils.  For example, in the last 10 years the number of pupils eligible for free school meals has almost doubled from 14% to 25%, meanwhile the level of deprivation funding per pupil has fallen in real terms.  The effect is disadvantage gaps remain largely unchanged compared to ten years ago – disadvantaged students are 10 months behind their peers at the end of primary and 19 months behind by GCSE. Students from the wealthiest quintile of households are twice as likely to progress to higher education as students from the lowest quintile.  It’s clear there is still much to do to close the disadvantage gap. 

Treat 

So, for some good news, last week the Academy for Mathematical Sciences reported that the mathematical sciences contribute an ‘extraordinary’ £495 billion to the UK economy per year, which equates to 20% of the UK’s gross value added. Further, mathematical sciences occupations constitute around 13% of all UK employment – that’s 4.2 million people who work in jobs where tools and techniques are derived from mathematical sciences research.  Those employees earn 24% more than the UK average and contribute 58% more to the UK gross value added than the typical worker. So young people are more likely to benefit themselves and benefit the UK economy by studying mathematics to an advanced level.  The report also suggests each mathematical sciences employee contributes, on average, £117k per year to the UK economy but only receives, on average, £52k in salary. Which leaves me asking the question, is now a good time for me to ask for a pay rise? Maybe for Halloween this year, I will don my favourite super-hero outfit, knock on the door of No 10 Downing Street and threaten to take my £117k contribution to a different economy unless there is more funding for the mathematical sciences. Who’s with me? 

Author information

Chris is the Deputy Director of the Observatory and an Associate Professor of Statistics in the School of Mathematical Sciences.  

Observatory for Mathematical Education team

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