SCHOOLCHILDREN in England and Wales are rapidly sliding to the bottom of the international class in mathematics, warns a group of university mathematicians. They blame the woolly wording of the National Curriculum, which fails to spell out the best ways for teachers to drill their pupils in the basics of arithmetic, trigonometry, fractions and algebra.
Only when these skills become second nature can pupils reach the level of mathematical fluency typical of children in other European countries and Asia, say the London Mathematical Society, the Royal Statistical Society and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in a joint report issued last week. The report avoids blaming the crisis on teachers, who have borne the brunt of recent criticism about standards of maths (see This Week, 20 August 1994).
Instead, it points the finger at the National Curriculum. 鈥淭he advice to teachers in the National Curriculum is very vague,鈥� says Tony Gardner, a mathematics lecturer at the University of Birmingham, who helped to draft the report. 鈥淚t fails to say which methods should be used to teach pupils the basics,鈥� he says.
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For example, even after four redrafts, the curriculum still does not insist that children are taught multiplication tables from 2 times to 12 times. 鈥淎s a clear instruction to teachers, that鈥檚 a very, very simple bottom-line statement, but it鈥檚 not in the curriculum,鈥� says Gardner. Teachers are told that children should learn the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, but are otherwise instructed that children 鈥渟hould have opportunities to consolidate number facts鈥�, he says.
The same vagueness plagues basic algebra, trigonometry and fractions. 鈥淥n every topic, it says that children should 鈥榚xperience a range of methods appropriate to the problem, including trial and improvement鈥�,鈥� says Gardner. 鈥淲hat does that mean?鈥�
He blames the woolly wording on educationalists and bureaucrats who favour teaching centred on what the child wants to learn, not what a child should learn. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want the cold, austere precision of mathematics,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey like things to be woolly, waffly and warm, but that鈥檚 self-defeating in the long run because eventually pupils hit a brick wall.鈥�
Teaching maths is not easy, says Gardner. 鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 escape the boredom by dressing problems up with cartoon characters. Worse still, the jargon can obscure the mathematics.鈥�
The societies want a committee of experts to clarify the advice to teachers in the curriculum. It also calls for the creation of a permanent standing committee to monitor all maths education.