The Royal Statistical Society will aim to increase support for teaching maths and statistics in schools as well as working to improve statistical literacy across the UK, in a new set of objectives published by our Education Policy Advisory Group (EPAG).
EPAG’s mission is to promote the importance of statistical literacy for all, to enable everyone to be an informed citizen. It has now set out its objectives through to 2025 for the term of its chair, Dr Sophie Carr, the Society’s vice president for education and statistical literacy.
In the long term, the group aims to bring together stakeholders to develop a set of principles for school curriculums that will form the basis of our advice to UK governments.
In the medium term, EPAG wishes to increase its engagement with teachers and create material to support the teaching of statistics. This support is more important than ever in the wake of the prime minister’s recent proposal for all pupils in England to study maths until 18, and EPAG will be reaching out to relevant teaching communities.
Improving statistical literacy for people not in formal education is also a priority. This work stream initially will involve looking at particular groups to target, for example those entering a data science career and then move on to producing content such as fact sheets and blogs.
Variable past experiences with maths and statistics can sometimes be a barrier to pursuing valuable statistical knowledge, for teachers as well as the general public. The Society is working to break down those barriers and increase engagement and enthusiasm for statistics across the UK, in and out of schools.
Read the objective document in full