Mathematics Tuition (Hansard, 3 November 1988)

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales published proposals for attainment targets and programmes of study for mathematics in mid-August. Their proposals were based on the mathematics working group's advice but identified certain aspects which required, in their view, further examination. The proposals are currently the subject of consultation.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I am grateful for that reply. However, is the Minister aware that the Secretary of State recommends that 10 per cent. of time in the school week should be allocated to mathematics whereas the working group recommends a higher proportion? Is the Minister further aware that in Japan as high a proportion as 20 per cent. of the school week goes to mathematics? Does not the Minister agree that it would be retrograde to reduce the amount of time available for this extremely important subject in the new national curriculum?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I am aware of that. The proposals of my right honourable friend, based on the working group's advice, are now the subject of wide-ranging consultations conducted in England by the National Curriculum Council. The Government have expressed their views: the consultation exercise has allowed others to express theirs. In its report the NCC is bound to summarise all the views expressed in the consultations alongside its own advice on the proposals.

§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, are the Government prepared to take notice of the differential performance of girls and boys in mathematics and of the urgent need to bring pressure to bear to improve girls' performance if they are to have any hope of playing a part in the economy in future?

§ Viscount Davidson
Yes, my Lords.

§ Lord Annan
My Lords, if the proposals in this document are in any way to be implemented, is it not 388 necessary to have a major programme for increasing the number of teachers who can teach mathematics? Does that not also mean that there will have to be a differential scale of payment for such teachers, regardless of what the unions may say?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I agree that there are at present shortages of mathematics teachers. But we have an energetic action programme to boost recruitment and to update and reinforce under-qualified existing teachers. Future demands will be less than many people claim. Secondary pupil numbers will continue to fall until 1991 and will remain below present levels until the year 2000.

§ Lord Peston
My Lords, is the Minister aware how discouraging that last answer was? Is he aware—he surely must be—that so many young people are put off mathematics because of the poor teaching they receive? Does he not agree that the highest priority—this applies to women as well as to men—must be given to providing an ample number of first-class maths teachers? In that case, it seems to me to be inconceivable that we could have too many.

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I thought that I had given an encouraging reply in my last answer. Perhaps the noble Lord would like to read it again in Hansard tomorrow.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, is the Minister also aware that the time available for preparing in-service training courses for existing teachers of mathematics is extraordinarily short? Can he reassure the House that the Secretary of State will do something about providing both increased resources for teacher training in this area and more time for the preparation of courses? Can he also reassure the House that the whole issue of a profile component in the practical application of mathematics will be looked at again by the Secretary of State who is currently rejecting that proposal of the working group?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, as regards the latter part of the question, that, I am sure, is one of the matters that the National Curriculum Council will be taking very seriously on board. As to whether teachers can cope, in the first instance I should tell the House that only teachers of five and 11 year-old pupils will be affected. Those teachers will have about six months to familiarise themselves with the new attainment targets and programmes of study. Various kinds of support will be provided—new books, equipment and teaching materials through education support grants; in-service training through the LEA training grants scheme; and additional guidance and support through LEA advisory services. But, in any case, teachers will find that many of the new requirements simply reinforce what is already happening in good classrooms.