STEM educationMath is important but should it be compulsory?
There was much discussion recently about making it compulsory for year 12 students in New South Wales, Australia to study some mathematics. Over the past ten years at least, the total proportion of students studying Year 12 math has remained stable at around 80 percent, but the trend around the country has been for students studying math to take lower levels of math. The problem of declining math skills is complex and its solution will not be easy, quick or as straightforward as making math compulsory. At the very least the solution will require qualified math teachers in all math classrooms, an engaging curriculum that has clear relevance to the multitude of pathways that students might pursue, including trades and business as well as science, and clear statements from colleges and universities detailing the essential prerequisites that students require for their programs.
Deborah King, University of Melbourne lecturer of mathematics // Source: unimelb.edu.au
Compulsory math for year 12 students! I’d like to see that — or would I?
There was much discussion recently about making it compulsory for year 12 students in NSW to study some mathematics. As a card-carrying mathematician, you might expect me to be very happy with such a suggestion. But, to the contrary, the suggestion has me frowning. Already, across Australia, 80 percent of Year 12 students are enrolled in some math subject. Some may say that this is a very healthy number so what’s all the fuss about? Well good question.
Why study math?
In the first instance we need to consider why 20 percent of students don’t study math at Year 12.
Three reasons for students choosing any subjects at Year 12 spring to mind immediately; students like a subject, they are good at a subject or, they see a reason to study a subject.
Presumably for 20 percent of Year 12 students, at least one of these reasons fails to be true (or is less true about math than it is for the subjects they do choose) and it’s hard to see what would be achieved by making math compulsory for them.
Then there are students who leave school after Year 10. How do we improve their numeracy? Focusing on remediation in junior high school (and primary school) must be part of the discussion.
In February 2012, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) held a forum Math for the future: Keep Australia Competitive that again highlighted the decline in math participation and skills, showing the need for “intervention at multiple points on the educational pipeline.”
We need to think quite hard about what would be achieved by making Year 12 math compulsory and how it might be done by way of curriculum design.
Make it relevant
Better ways (and definitely harder ways) to address the lack of math participation for these students might include different teaching models, making clearer the importance of studying math and making it relevant to a variety of areas of study.
Also increasing the number of skilled math teachers in every math class, not just senior math classes, and developing curriculum models that have the capacity to reinforce concepts and remediate any misconceptions will have a significant, positive impact.
All of the above suggestions would benefit all students studying math. The critical element to improving math skills in students is surely the teacher in the room.
