We have responded to the Royal Society’s recent
report and recommendations for maths education in the UK, published last month as part of its Mathematical Futures programme. The Royal Society’s report stresses that a greater focus should be placed on statistics and data within mathematics education, a stance we greatly welcome.
Our response highlights our alignment on several curriculum recommendations, including advocating for integrating statistics, data and quantitative literacy in education using real-world examples and digital technology to engage more students.
Our response further emphasises our agreement on:
- The need to integrate statistics and data into other academic subjects, although we stress that their place within mathematics education should not be compromised
- The importance of incorporating modern skills, like data skills, into educational standards
- The recommendation that, around age 14, lower-stakes assessments that better reflect practical data skills are introduced, and that online tools are used to aid assessment more generally
- Recognition that increased teaching capacity and support will be necessary to implement these plans.
In our own recently published recommendations, we also detail our recommendation on statistics and data at GCSE-level, proposing separate and refreshed GCSEs in maths and statistics/data, with the option for students to take two GCSEs or one dual GCSE. This would provide the opportunity to develop distinct, coherent curriculums for each, giving students clear progression pathways based on their areas of interest.
We would be happy to work with the Royal Society on facilitating change, including in relation to the suggested independent task force. Relatedly, we are pleased to see the Department for Education’s
Curriculum and Assessment review and hope this review will take into consideration the Royal Society’s and our points about the importance of data and statistics for daily skills, the world of work and future study.
Read
our response to the Royal Society in full, and
our own recommendations for the teaching of statistics, or the
summary of our recommendations.