The prime minister is expected to restate his desire to ensure all pupils study maths up to the age of 18
In a statement on Rishi Sunak’s plan for maths teaching, the National Education Union makes the same point as the one conceded by Gillian Keegan – that there aren’t enough teachers.
Mary Bousted, the union’s joint general secretary, said:
After thirteen years in government there are not enough teachers to deliver the prime minister’s vision. His government’s policies for teacher recruitment are not bringing in enough new teachers. There is also a crisis of teacher retention as a result of low pay and excessive workload. The government needs to urgently get a grip of this workforce crisis in education.
Of his proposals on maths education, the Prime Minister says ‘we’ll need to recruit and train the maths teachers’ but he does not explain how the government will do this. Let’s not forget that this is a government that has cut its recruitment target for maths teachers by 39% since 2020.
We’ve got to change this anti-maths mindset. We’ve got to start prizing numeracy for what it is – a key skill every bit as essential as reading ….
I won’t sit back and allow this cultural sense that it’s ok to be bad at maths to put our children at a disadvantage …
