Maths tests becoming less rigorous 1

Matthew Sinclair Better Government

The Telegraph reports on a new study by Reform which demonstrates that academic standards in maths have been falling in recent decades:

"GCSEs are "considerably" easier than tests sat 50 years ago as questions are simplified to make them more relevant to modern teenagers, it said.

Reform, an independent think tank, said the traditional emphasis on algebra, arithmetic and geometry has been dropped in favour of questions focusing on real-life situations. It added that pupils can now gain a good grade with fewer than half the marks needed in 1990.

Reform also claimed that the lack of rigour has led to fewer students studying maths at sixth-form and university – leaving the British economy vulnerable to competition from China and India."

Mathematics is so vital to such a range of disciplines and high value added industries, from engineering to the City, that we would be mad not to take such criticisms very seriously. In light of that, the NUT trying to lash out at the messenger and the Minister blaming ‘culture’ is deeply dissapointing.

Matthew Sinclair

Matthew is Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, author of Let Them Eat Carbon and editor of How to Cut Public Spending (and still win an election)

Follow @mjhsinclair

Hardeep_Singh

Typical the NUT focusing their attenions on the messenger rather than the issue at hand and a very serious one at that. Maths is fundamental and I don’t see why it was allowed to languish for so long, surely all the alarm bells were being triggered over the years.
It’s once again Labour in the dock they wanted impressive looking educational stats and thus had to weed out the uncomfortable subjects like Maths. The result was a glut of near meaningless soft subjects that have little or no industrial impact for the nation. We need well educated and rounded individuals that possess both academic and inter personal skills.
If the rest of the world is investing in maths and sciences then are they mad or is it just the UK that has allowed comfort to overtake responsibility.