‘Not enough teachers for PM’s maths-until-18 plan to work’

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (PA Wire)

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan would not say how many more maths teachers will be needed to achieve the Government’s goal of ensuring all children learn maths until the age of 18 when asked on Monday.

It comes as education experts said there are not enough maths teachers to make the plan a success.

Rishi Sunak has announced an expert-led review into how to carry out his plan to ensure all pupils in England study some form of maths up to the age of 18, without making maths A-Level compulsory.

But asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme how many more teachers Ms Keegan believed it would be necessary to recruit to facilitate the “maths to 18” plan, she said: “It depends on what the expert panel say they’re actually going to be learning.”

She added that the Government would be looking into how to make the career offer of maths teaching as broad as possible in order to recruit from different places.

The new advisory group will be made up of mathematicians, education leaders and business representatives.

The panel will study countries which have high rates of numeracy and consider whether a new maths qualification should be introduced for 16 to 18-year-olds.

The Prime Minister will also commit to introducing “a voluntary and fully funded qualification” for teachers leading maths in primary schools and extending Maths Hubs — groups aimed at improving the teaching of maths. There are currently 40 such hubs across England.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said Mr Sunak should focus on resolving the pay dispute which has triggered industrial action.

He said: “It is hard to understand why the Prime Minister is rehashing his ambition of maths to 18, having only announced this policy in January and with no further detail of what it will entail or how it will be delivered.

“It seems like an attempt to divert attention away from the most pressing matter in education in England, which is the industrial dispute triggered by the erosion of teacher pay and conditions and resulting crisis in recruiting and retaining enough staff.”

He added: “These severe shortages directly undermine the Prime Minister’s ambition because it means there are not enough maths teachers to deliver even the existing requirements, let alone extend maths to every pupil to the age of 18.”