Mathematics Teaching (Hansard, 16 November 1983)

§ Mr. Dunn

The teaching of mathematics in schools was the subject of a recent major inquiry by a committee under the chairmanship of Sir Wilfred Cockcroft. Their report — which is available in the Library — was published in January 1982. My right hon. Friend has made it clear that we see the Cockcroft report as the foundation for work to improve the teaching of mathematics by all of those concerned: central government, local education authorities, the examination boards, teacher training institutions, those who fund and carry out curriculum development and, especially, teachers themselves.

The Government's first priority has been to secure the widest possible dissemination of the report's conclusions and recommendations for both primary and secondary schools. Some 40,000 copies of the report itself have been sold, and the Department has distributed 65,000 copies of an introduction to it for primary schools and 25,000 copies of a guide to the report for employers. We hope that within the resources available to them local education authorities and schools will continue to take action to ensure that all those who teach mathematics are fully aware of the report's analysis and conclusions.

The Cockcroft committee placed special emphasis on in-service support for teachers as a necessary precondition for improvements in the teaching of mathematics. We have identified mathematics as one of the priority areas for the new in-service training grants scheme and have provided £2.1 million to support attendance by teachers at designated in-service courses in mathematics in the first period of the scheme—April 1983-August 1984. Taking account of the recommendations of the Cockcroft report, the scheme applies to training for mathematics co-ordinators in primary schools, heads of mathematics departments in secondary schools, teachers of low attainers in mathematics in secondary schools, and teachers of mathematics in secondary schools who are inadequately qualified for the subject.

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The report laid emphasis on the need for examinations to support and encourage good teaching practice. My right hon. Friend has made known his provisional comments on the draft national criteria for examinations in mathematics at 16 plus. Those criteria reflect the recommendations of the Cockcroft report and would help to provide a solid basis for improvement in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools.

We also share the committee's concern about the needs of those pupils for whom public examinations at 16 plus are not designed. The Department is funding three research and development projects in this field, at a total cost over three years of £0.5 million. One of these projects is concerned with curriculum development based on the Cockcroft foundation list of mathematical topics, and the other two with the feasibility of providing evidence of achievement in mathematics for lower-attaining pupils in ways that will support the provision of suitable mathematics courses in schools, and in particular with the possible use of graded tests. A conference on mathematics for lower-attaining pupils in secondary schools is to be held on 23 November.

The Department has also provided funds for a number of other activities arising from the recommendations of the Cockcroft report: for work by the Open University on in-service training material on the use of calculators in secondary schools and on the teaching of statistics in schools; for an overall appraisal of the educational implications of the mathematics testing carried out so far by the assessment of performance unit; for research on the changing needs of employers in the light of the introduction of new technology; and for the expansion of the masterclasses in mathematics provided by the Royal Institution.

My right hon. Friend has also identified mathematics in schools as an area to be discussed with the local education authorities with a view to the possibility of support under the scheme for providing education support grants, subject to parliamentary approval of the Education (Grants and Awards) Bill. In this as in all other relevant policies we shall continue to encourage the education service to respond to the opportunity presented by the Cockcroft report.