There’s a strange trend in mathematics education in England. Math is the most popular subject at A-level since overtaking English in 2014. It’s taken by around 85,000 and 90,000 students a year.
There’s a strange trend in mathematics education in England. Math is the most popular subject at A-level since overtaking English in 2014. It’s taken by around 85,000 and 90,000 students a year.
But many universities—particularly lower-tariff institutions, which accept students with lower A-level grades—are recruiting far fewer students for math degrees. There’s been a 50% drop in numbers of math students at the lowest tariff universities over the five years between 2017 and 2021. As a result, some universities are struggling to keep their mathematics departments open.
The total number of students studying math has remained largely static over the last decade. Prestigious Russell Group universities which require top A-level grades have increased their numbers of math students.
This trend in degree-level mathematics education is worrying. It restricts the accessibility of math degrees, especially to students from poorer backgrounds who are most likely to study at universities close to where they live. It perpetuates the myth that only those people who are unusually gifted at mathematics should study it—and that high-level math skills are not necessary for everyone else.
Research carried out in 2019 by King’s College London and Ipsos found that half of the working age population had the numeracy skills expected of a child at primary school.
