Sunak: adding up the benefits of maths

The merits of more maths is back on the agenda after Rishi Sunak gave a speech today confirming his plans to ensure every pupil in Britain studies the subject up to the age of 18.

 Speaking at the London Screen Academy this morning, Sunak warned that the UK is one of the least numerate countries in the developed world, adding: “We’ve got to start prizing numeracy for what it is – a key skill every bit as essential as reading.”

Although maths is now the most popular A-Level in Britain, Sunak took issue with a pervasive cultural attitude that it’s “OK to be bad at maths.” We’d never joke in similar terms about not being able to read, he pointed out.   

To this end, his location was carefully selected. Sunak was delivering the speech at an academy for pupils pursuing a career in TV – and one which recently put maths on the curriculum for 16-to-19 year olds. 

Why? Because “a shortage of technical skills” is holding back the film industry, said Sunak, adding that you can’t make visual effects without vectors or run a production company without being financially literate.

This was a clear attempt by Sunak – a former investment banker – to pre-empt any criticism that his policy amounts to a devaluation of the arts. 

According to the government, the curriculum change wouldn’t mean every pupil would have to study maths to A-level standard. Rather, Sunak is appointing an expert group to decide exactly what compulsory study for 16-18 year olds should include.

Is it a sensible policy that will help change the “anti-maths mindset” or is the PM barking up the wrong tree? Demanding students spend longer doing maths is certainly not without precedent. In fact, Britain is something of an outlier amongst developed countries, with pupils in countries including France, Germany, Finland, Japan, Canada, and the US all routinely studying some form of maths to 18. 

Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at University of Oxford, agrees that an understanding of mathematics is part of being an informed citizen. The pandemic, he adds, highlighted that a misunderstanding of mathematics and statistics can be deadly: “Witness the difficulty scientists had in explaining exponential growth of viruses to politicians during the outbreak of Covid-19.”

That said, whether or not Sunak’s policy proves beneficial will largely depend on the kind of maths implemented in schools. Some argue that it would need to be a much more practical and applied form of maths and statistics than the abstract mathematics currently taught at A-level. 

Others are altogether unconvinced. Liz Truss’ favourite think-tank has rebuffed the idea that forcing disinterested students into mathematics classes is any sort of remedy for economic stagnation. According to the IEA: “Prosperity requires creating the right institutional environment for entrepreneurship, not dictating curriculums from the top.”

After all, the Soviet Union, it adds, “was world-renowned for maths and science instruction but that failed to translate into a strong economy.”

Good idea in principle or not, big questions remain about just how realistic it is to implement. Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has confirmed the policy wouldn’t come into force before the general election, while also admitting the government is failing to meet its current target for recruiting maths teachers. 

Sunak’s big maths push also comes just a week before teachers embark on a fresh wave of strikes, with the NEU warning of a “crisis of teacher retention as a result of low pay and excessive workload.”

His policy also provoked something rare: a joke from the LibDems. According to Munira Wilson, the party’s education spokesman, “You don’t need a maths A-level to see that these plans don’t add up.”

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