Updating 'the Mathematics Pipeline'

 Chris Brignell, Deputy Director 

The Mathematics Pipeline report (2023) presented a system-level overview of mathematics education in England and considered the journeys of students from age 4 to 16 and, thereafter, those who proceed to study mathematics at A level, undergraduate and postgraduate level. The report included a focus on students who are under-represented in mathematics during the 16-18 and university phases, such as females and those from low-income families. 

However, while the Pipeline report contains lots of statistics with regards to the sex, ethnicity and socio-economic status of students, we didn’t consider the intersectionality* of these characteristics. For example, is the effect of lower income on attainment the same for all ethnicities? Or does a one grade drop in attainment have the same impact on post-16 participation for males and females? So, I locked myself inside our SafePod and crunched some more numbers… 

As a result, we published a paper last week that answers these questions (and a few more besides). Consider female participation and attainment. It’s well known that women are under-represented in A level Maths, and their participation drops even further in undergraduate mathematics, but the analysis in our paper suggests that the drop between A level and university almost entirely disappears when A level attainment is accounted for. Why? Well, after controlling for all the other variables, it appears female students are under-performing in the A level phase (both Maths and Further Maths) compared to their male counterparts. This is surprising because female students do just as well as male students in the GCSE and degree phases.  So, what’s causing the A level female dip? 

The other result that some might find surprising is the effect of A level Further Maths on degree outcomes. As one might expect, those with a better A level Mathematics grade are more likely to get a first-class maths degree than those with a lower grade. However, those with both Maths and Further Maths do no better in their maths degree than those with just a single maths A level. Of course, that is not to say that Further Maths has no value: there are a few elite universities where it is essential (or very advantageous) for meeting the entry requirements, and knowledge of additional topics smooths the transition to university for many. And there is nothing wrong with the simple pleasure of doing more maths. 

Nevertheless, the question of why Further Maths appears to offer little advantage is worth considering. One possibility is that A level Maths and Further Maths are both based on school-style maths (i.e. using formulae and rehearsed routines), so the latter offers no extra advantage when adapting to university-style maths containing abstract concepts and theorems based on rigorous proofs. Similarly, both A levels are assessed via high-stakes summative assessments, so maybe Further Maths offers no extra advantage for university assessments based on programming, writing dissertations or applying maths to open-ended problems. 

 Whilst maths-to-18 is high on the agenda, it is perhaps a good time to reconsider the purpose and content of the maths A level. Should A level Maths be reformed to increase female participation and attainment, and Further Maths be repurposed so that it better prepares students for maths degrees? What would that look like? Build in more connections to other subjects? More open-ended, unstructured questions? Different forms of assessment?    

We’d be interested to know your thoughts. 

 *The term ‘intersectionality’ was first used by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe the double discrimination of racism and sexism faced by Black women. Since then, the use of the term has expanded to describe the ways in which systems of inequality based on protected characteristics and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects. 

Author information

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

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