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Rishi Sunak - push for maths education

Journalist: Jane Matthews, FTAdviser

ended 17. April 2023

Hello advisers, 

You've probably seen that Rishi Sunak has just given a speech today reaffirming his commitment to improving numerical literacy in the UK. (Info here: https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-nursing-union-to-reveal-pay-deal-ballot-result-as-junior-doctors-strike-enters-final-day-12593360) 

Would love to get your thoughts on some of his key points. A key element of it was the news that the government will be pushing ahead with maths education until the age of 18 - although this will not be in the form of A-level maths. Full details of what it will include are tbc.

Another thing that stood out to me was that Sunak said we need to tackle the 'cultural sense' that it is okay to be bad at maths (full comments in link above). Is this something you would agree with? 

Is there anything more you would like to see the government do to help tackle poor numerical literacy in adults? Is this a big problem that you encounter with your clients? 

Many thanks, 
Jane

 

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
This will be watered down to something similar to the failed 'key skills' policy. What Sunak should be concentrating on is raising the standard of students' maths skills when they finish school at 16, not forcing them to take further maths until 18. His assessment that maths is ubiquitous is correct, so he shouldn't be happy with settling for sub-standard maths skills at 16 and then again at 18. Improvements need to be made at a younger age.
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Joshua Gerstler
Chartered Financial Planner at The Orchard Practice
"I agree with Rishi Sunak that basic maths is a key skill that everyone should be able to master. I believe it is a key foundation into becoming financially literate."
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
What I see in this speech is a great statement with no real substance behind it yet. Yes, numeracy is very important, writes the financial adviser/computer coder - but then I would say that. The problem seems to be that you are either switched on by maths or you are not - there doesn't seem to be much middle ground in my opinion. Take my children, for example, my daughter has almost zero interest in any form of maths, and aims to zero out the bank balance of her pocket money touch card as soon as practical - my son on the other hand seems to find maths and numbers enriching and analyses each potential use of his debit card like someone who works for Price Waterhouse. What we need to see from UK education is teaching children real skills and understanding of how and where maths is used in daily life e.g. mortgage interest rates, lenders 'APRs, rental yields, inflation effects, real-term growth I could go on. I have witnessed far too many headteacher clients who are financially clueless.
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David Robinson
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
Tories plus education policy equals a complete waste of time and money!
Most people barely use anything beyond current key stage 3 maths in their jobs. Instead of teaching simultaneous equations and other rather pointless "skills", why not bring in something useful like financial literacy? So few people properly understand debt and savings concepts let alone the actual products. Teaching children how to manage their money and finances would be beneficial not only to the individuals but also to society.
Surely our education system should be based around teaching children skills that they need in later life, not advanced mathematics that only a handful of people will ever use, nearly all of whom would have learnt them anyway.