§ Mr. Fisherasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many specialist teachers of mathematics are currently employed; and how many more would be needed to implement fully the recommendations of the Cockcroft report.
§ Mr. DunnUp to date information will not be available until about the end of this year when we shall have the first results of a survey of secondary school staffing now in progress. The latest available information derives from an earlier survey in England and Wales in 1977. At that time, an estimated 21,000 teachers had mathematics as the main subject of their highest qualification; a further 26,000 teachers had a subsidiary qualification in mathematics.
The Cockcroft committee estimated that in 1977 the contribution to mathematics teaching in secondary schools by teachers with no qualifications in the subject was equivalent to 5,000 teachers. Because pupil numbers are falling, the numbers of teachers actually needed substantially to eliminate such teaching would depend on the date chosen for reaching the objective, as well as on the local management of the teacher force and the time given to mathematics within the curriculum. Other findings in the Cockcroft report have less readily quantifiable implications for teacher supply.