WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.900 And welcome back to our viewers at home. 00:00:02.360 --> 00:00:04.980 The Twittersphere is working quite hard 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:08.340 and we have a few questions from Singapore and China. 00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:09.940 We'll get to them later on. 00:00:10.420 --> 00:00:16.300 But I'd like to introduce you to our three distinguished panellists 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:22.860 who are going to take part in the second slice of the discussion 00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:25.480 which is about making maths relevant. 00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:30.760 I would point out that if there are things left over from the first session, 00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:32.800 by all means bring them forward in this session 00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:36.300 and ask a different set of people how they feel about those things. 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:42.500 So, a fairly impressive group of people with us today. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:46.620 Charlie Strip has been teaching maths in the state sector for 10 years, 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:48.840 both in school and in an FE college. 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:53.980 He is now Director of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics 00:00:53.980 --> 00:00:56.400 and Chief Executive of MEI. 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.600 He joined MEI in 2000 to set up a project 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:04.080 that eventually became the National Further Mathematics Support Programme. 00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:06.000 He's also taught trainee teachers 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.120 and delivered professional development courses 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:10.280 for secondary and sixth form maths teachers. 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:15.380 Obviously, he's an active member of the Mathematical Council for over 20 years 00:01:15.380 --> 00:01:16.980 and is currently on the council. 00:01:18.940 --> 00:01:22.320 And he became Director of the NCTM 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:35.996 whilst continuing as MEI Chief Executive So he has quite a lot to do and I hope he going to share some of his thoughts with us today Mark McCourt is the chief executive of Beluga Learning an education technology company 00:01:35.996 --> 00:01:41.816 and chairman of the Teacher Development Trust. Formerly senior director at Tribal, the very large 00:01:41.816 --> 00:01:48.876 education organisation, Mark has extensive experience in technology enhanced learning 00:01:48.876 --> 00:01:54.536 across all age and ability groups. Having spent many years as the director at the National Centre 00:01:54.536 --> 00:01:57.616 for Excellence in Teaching and Mathematics. That comes up again and again, doesn't it? 00:01:58.176 --> 00:02:02.396 Mark is an expert in all aspects of maths teaching and learning and has been a driving 00:02:02.396 --> 00:02:08.056 force in raising standards in maths education. He's also been a school leader, an AST, an 00:02:08.056 --> 00:02:13.516 inspector and a teacher trainer. And then finally, closer to me, Dr Janet DeWild is the 00:02:13.516 --> 00:02:18.216 head of STEM at the Higher Education Academy, whose mission is to improve the student learning 00:02:18.216 --> 00:02:24.476 experience. She began her career as a professional engineer, followed by 17 years 00:02:24.476 --> 00:02:26.516 as an academic at Imperial College London. 00:02:27.216 --> 00:02:29.976 She moved into educational development at Harriet Watt, 00:02:30.616 --> 00:02:34.156 then became executive manager of a pan-Scotland research initiative 00:02:34.156 --> 00:02:35.616 at the University of Edinburgh. 00:02:36.576 --> 00:02:40.376 At the HEA, she was author of the HEA Evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry 00:02:40.376 --> 00:02:44.036 on STEM Education, that seminal and powerful inquiry. 00:02:44.916 --> 00:02:47.256 And currently the team has a strategic project 00:02:47.256 --> 00:02:51.596 investigating mathematical and statistical skills in the disciplines 00:02:51.596 --> 00:02:53.576 and tackling transition. 00:02:53.576 --> 00:03:07.051 So I think all three of these people are bringing something really quite special to us today so I shall ask Charlie to open up Again each one of our speakers will speak for five minutes 00:03:07.211 --> 00:03:10.071 You will notice, of course, I let everybody drift over in the last one. 00:03:11.131 --> 00:03:13.431 Perhaps just a tad, if it's going well. 00:03:13.791 --> 00:03:15.631 OK, well, good afternoon. 00:03:16.031 --> 00:03:18.911 I've only got two slides, so I'm going to talk for most of the time. 00:03:18.951 --> 00:03:20.471 But I want you to start with a bit of good news. 00:03:20.471 --> 00:03:23.591 so this is A-level maths entries in the UK 00:03:23.591 --> 00:03:25.851 over the last nine years 00:03:25.851 --> 00:03:28.771 and A-level maths is growing very strongly 00:03:28.771 --> 00:03:31.971 amongst in fact possibly the strongest 00:03:31.971 --> 00:03:33.291 of the mainstream A-level subjects 00:03:33.291 --> 00:03:36.751 and we've also got a similar slide for further maths numbers 00:03:36.751 --> 00:03:39.331 and they're growing even faster 00:03:39.331 --> 00:03:42.251 in terms of the percentage of gains each year 00:03:42.251 --> 00:03:45.171 so that's a bit of really good news 00:03:45.171 --> 00:03:48.271 but I'd also like to give a note of caution 00:03:48.271 --> 00:03:51.731 that we're about to possibly change the structure of A-levels quite dramatically. 00:03:52.731 --> 00:03:57.691 And I'm a little bit concerned about whether these can be preserved and extended when that happens. 00:03:58.291 --> 00:04:01.711 But I think that there clearly is something good happening at the moment 00:04:01.711 --> 00:04:04.451 in that more young people do want to study more mathematics post-16. 00:04:04.631 --> 00:04:06.891 It's not nearly enough, but there is something good there. 00:04:09.151 --> 00:04:12.851 There's definitely, thinking about the maths that's needed 00:04:12.851 --> 00:04:15.031 for people going on to higher education and employments, 00:04:15.211 --> 00:04:16.411 there's definitely a supply gap. 00:04:16.411 --> 00:04:36.267 So we have somebody already mentioned the Acme and Maths on Needs report from 2009 and in there it identifies at that time there were about 125 young people doing maths post level 3 maths post And in IHE there was a demand for about 330 young people doing that 00:04:36.587 --> 00:04:38.107 There's a great big supply gap there. 00:04:38.787 --> 00:04:42.507 It was interesting that, I'm not sure, I can't remember the name of the person, 00:04:42.587 --> 00:04:44.407 but something over this side of the room earlier talked about, 00:04:44.487 --> 00:04:51.227 what can we do to improve the level of maths of young people on undergraduate degree courses in social sciences? 00:04:51.227 --> 00:04:53.627 the very best thing that you could do 00:04:53.627 --> 00:04:56.967 is to say that you would like students to have studied maths post-16 00:04:56.967 --> 00:04:58.047 before they go to university 00:04:58.047 --> 00:05:01.827 and actually I think there's a kind of honesty problem 00:05:01.827 --> 00:05:03.427 with higher education about this 00:05:03.427 --> 00:05:06.147 and I know there are issues about selecting and recruiting universities 00:05:06.147 --> 00:05:11.507 and people being frightened of students not choosing their subject 00:05:11.507 --> 00:05:12.707 because they don't like maths 00:05:12.707 --> 00:05:16.527 but I think that if you want more people to do more maths 00:05:16.527 --> 00:05:17.707 please ask for it 00:05:17.707 --> 00:05:18.947 I think it's a very clear message 00:05:18.947 --> 00:05:22.067 we've got 00:05:22.067 --> 00:05:25.347 a government that's very keen on promoting 00:05:25.347 --> 00:05:27.007 mathematics, Michael Gove had 00:05:27.007 --> 00:05:29.167 an aspiration that within 10 years 00:05:29.167 --> 00:05:31.367 the vast majority of young people will study maths 00:05:31.367 --> 00:05:32.347 right up to age 18 00:05:32.347 --> 00:05:35.107 there's a very large number of young people who get 00:05:35.107 --> 00:05:37.087 a grade C or above at GCSE but just 00:05:37.087 --> 00:05:38.447 stop doing maths at age 16 00:05:38.447 --> 00:05:41.267 and there have been various reports highlighting 00:05:41.267 --> 00:05:42.927 that including a 00:05:42.927 --> 00:05:45.027 report from Nuffield for example showing how 00:05:45.027 --> 00:05:47.307 bad we are related to our industrial 00:05:47.307 --> 00:05:50.147 in terms of participation in maths post-16. 00:05:50.147 --> 00:05:53.307 So we want to get more people to do more maths. 00:05:53.307 --> 00:05:55.307 How do we do that? 00:05:55.307 --> 00:05:59.127 And actually, why is it that they don't do more maths already 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:05.670 post-16. I think that there's a very big reason why they don't do more maths post-16 already, 00:06:05.770 --> 00:06:10.510 and it's called GCSE. And I think that that's something that really does need to be thought 00:06:10.510 --> 00:06:15.810 about carefully. One of the issues is that we've had lots of talk earlier in the presentations 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:19.670 about the importance of problem solving, and the problem solving is what maths is for. 00:06:20.390 --> 00:06:25.730 But I think that if you're a 14 to 16 year old, then for many 14 to 16 year olds, what maths is 00:06:25.730 --> 00:06:29.570 for and what the sort of image that's presented to them by their schools about what maths is for 00:06:29.570 --> 00:06:35.790 is to get a grade C or above it GCSE. Now that is the purpose of mathematics and that is a serious 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:40.290 problem for the image of the subject actually nationally in our culture. The stakes of that 00:06:40.290 --> 00:06:45.090 examination are so high both for the teachers and for the students that what goes on in the classroom 00:06:45.090 --> 00:06:49.990 is very severely distorted and I think that's a key thing that we need to try to address if we 00:06:49.990 --> 00:06:54.130 want to have this increased participation, better attitudes towards mathematics in our society. 00:06:54.950 --> 00:06:57.850 So, you know, some very, you know, important points there. 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:00.310 You know, GCSE, the way we examine things, though, 00:07:00.370 --> 00:07:03.750 there's a kind of tension between reliability and validity. 00:07:04.010 --> 00:07:05.930 You know, reliability is being able to, you know, 00:07:06.350 --> 00:07:09.610 get consistent grades for a paper. 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:11.950 Different people mark the same work. 00:07:12.050 --> 00:07:13.390 They get the same score. 00:07:14.210 --> 00:07:16.730 And, you know, mass assessments are very reliable. 00:07:17.210 --> 00:07:20.070 But validity is about assessing what it is you want people to be able to do 00:07:20.070 --> 00:07:21.190 having done your course. 00:07:21.750 --> 00:07:23.630 And I think that actually we need much more validity 00:07:23.630 --> 00:07:36.206 and we should sacrifice some reliability to achieve that There also an issue when you talk about problem solving that in maths the questions tend to be closed There a lot of differentiation 00:07:36.206 --> 00:07:42.406 by task rather than by the outcome of the question. So for a difficult maths question 00:07:42.406 --> 00:07:46.026 what makes it difficult is that only a few students can do it. Not that all students 00:07:46.026 --> 00:07:48.986 can have a go and something gets some way towards the end of it. That again is because 00:07:48.986 --> 00:07:52.986 we don't tend to ask open-ended questions in maths exams. Part of the reason we don't 00:07:52.986 --> 00:07:58.706 do that the sinecum you might say is that they're hard to mark you know so there are issues around 00:07:58.706 --> 00:08:04.786 that as well so I think we need to make problem solving understanding of the focus of mass education 00:08:04.786 --> 00:08:09.306 you know not getting through an examination so you know we've really got to have that culture 00:08:09.306 --> 00:08:14.486 I think that there have been some there's some good news in recent changes to GCSE in the past 00:08:14.486 --> 00:08:18.426 two or three years I think that there was quite a lot of resistance from teachers to start with 00:08:18.426 --> 00:08:22.326 that there were more extended problems more problem solving on the papers teachers and 00:08:22.326 --> 00:08:26.386 students were rather against it to start with but that that that corner has been turned I think now 00:08:26.386 --> 00:08:30.366 people actually think the GCSE maths is better than it was because of the greater problem solving 00:08:30.366 --> 00:08:34.186 emphasis and you know that's some possibly grounds for optimism 00:08:34.186 --> 00:08:42.066 okay that's fine we've got a new national curriculum and new GCSEs you know these should 00:08:42.066 --> 00:08:46.426 be an opportunity for further improvement we want to drive a more inspiring experience for 00:08:46.426 --> 00:08:52.306 children in the classroom if we can do that then hopefully more of them will choose maths post-60 00:08:52.326 --> 00:09:04.041 We going to have new pathways new pathways being developed for Level 3 Maths Post 16 There interesting work going on there some of which I involved in But my fear is that if they optional pathways and I wouldn want them to be compulsory 00:09:04.521 --> 00:09:08.901 that there'll be marvellous qualifications available, but nobody will want to do them because their GCSE experience has been so terrible. 00:09:09.821 --> 00:09:14.641 So I think, you know, let's hope that we can take the opportunity of the reforms that are happening in qualifications 00:09:14.641 --> 00:09:19.241 to do something about that and actually make maths more attractive for people to want to continue it, 00:09:19.241 --> 00:09:22.961 rather than to say, you know, thank goodness that's over, I got my C grade or above. 00:09:22.961 --> 00:09:25.441 or perhaps even worse, I didn't get a grade C 00:09:25.441 --> 00:09:28.241 and now with the school leaving age going up to 18 00:09:28.241 --> 00:09:32.621 and because of Wolf, I'm going to have to keep taking GCSE maths until I pass it. 00:09:34.061 --> 00:09:36.281 These things aren't good for the image of mathematics, I think. 00:09:36.401 --> 00:09:37.121 Anyway, thank you. 00:09:43.121 --> 00:09:47.341 Some things for our maths development people to take away with them 00:09:47.341 --> 00:09:51.261 along with Ofqual and DfE colleagues in the audience. 00:09:51.861 --> 00:09:52.201 Mark. 00:09:52.201 --> 00:10:06.001 Thank you. Some very fortuitous things happened to me on my way into teaching. Firstly, I became a teacher by accident. I didn't mean it to happen at all. I'd had lots of jobs before teaching, and then a strange event happened, and I ended up in the classroom. 00:10:06.721 --> 00:10:19.301 That's fortuitous because it meant I arrived in the classroom without the usual fear that young entrants have. I also arrived in the classroom free from the notion that government knows best, and that was very helpful for me. 00:10:19.301 --> 00:10:22.681 During my first year as a teacher, two key events happened, 00:10:22.681 --> 00:10:35.877 which again were fortuitous The first one I was in a shop one day and I realised that the girl stood in front of me was in my Year 11 bottom set And she was trying to buy some things from behind the counter whatever it was and she held out her hand 00:10:36.157 --> 00:10:39.237 and she said to the chap behind the counter, what can I get for this? 00:10:39.777 --> 00:10:42.817 And she had no concept whatsoever of what was in her hand. 00:10:43.457 --> 00:10:49.637 The day before, I taught that girl how to collect like terms in algebraic expressions. 00:10:49.637 --> 00:10:56.557 the other formative event that happened to me was in the form of Alex now Alex was a troubled and 00:10:56.557 --> 00:11:02.237 difficult year 11 boy and he was always thrown out of his maths class always in trouble he'd 00:11:02.237 --> 00:11:07.857 failed every single maths test he ever took in school career and was predicted to get a grade 00:11:07.857 --> 00:11:13.337 U and one day I was teaching my lovely year 11 class and he was thrown into my room I thought 00:11:13.337 --> 00:11:18.977 I'll go and talk to this chap here and just uh get a feel for him and it sort of occurred to me 00:11:18.977 --> 00:11:20.617 almost like an internal bet. 00:11:20.917 --> 00:11:23.237 I wonder if I can get this boy to get a grade C. 00:11:23.617 --> 00:11:26.677 It was March in year 11, so the exams were in June. 00:11:27.757 --> 00:11:29.137 So I rang his father. 00:11:29.577 --> 00:11:30.437 His father was a nice guy. 00:11:30.857 --> 00:11:34.037 We talked about the problem Alex was facing 00:11:34.037 --> 00:11:37.217 and agreed that every lunchtime he would come and see me 00:11:37.217 --> 00:11:38.117 and I would tutor him. 00:11:38.457 --> 00:11:40.817 And we did this every single day. 00:11:41.377 --> 00:11:44.057 I tutored him from March through to June, 00:11:44.577 --> 00:11:45.397 even in the holidays. 00:11:45.397 --> 00:11:49.317 and August came and it was results day 00:11:49.317 --> 00:11:52.497 and Alex got a great D but you know. 00:11:53.817 --> 00:11:56.277 We were proud anyway and quite happy about that. 00:11:57.477 --> 00:11:58.357 When I was asked to talk 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:00.100 about making maths more relevant, 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:01.540 the first thing that strikes me is, 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:03.880 well, which part of the subjects are relevant? 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:06.240 Well, all of it. 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:09.620 And I wrote an article recently called 00:12:09.620 --> 00:12:12.120 Every Single Child Can Pass Mathematics. 00:12:13.040 --> 00:12:14.480 And I'm going to precede that here. 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:19.020 I've had some interesting discussions with people on Twitter 00:12:19.020 --> 00:12:19.740 and via email. 00:12:20.580 --> 00:12:23.080 The more extreme email me so they're not seen. 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:28.020 Except for the rarest of child, we're all born equal. 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:30.100 and we have the same capacity to learn. 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.040 Every single child on the day of their birth 00:12:33.040 --> 00:12:36.520 has it within them to leave the schooling system mathematically literate. 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:37.840 Every single one of them. 00:12:38.060 --> 00:12:39.620 I don't mean they're going to be a fields medalist, 00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:41.000 I don't mean they're going to be a maths genius, 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:43.080 but every one of them is able to leave schooling 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.960 with a level of mathematics that is practical and useful for them 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.060 in their future lives. 00:12:48.640 --> 00:12:51.420 And one of the main reasons that half the population 00:12:51.420 --> 00:12:52.800 don't do that at the moment 00:12:52.800 --> 00:12:55.040 is because so many of us in education, 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:56.280 so many people in education, 00:12:56.280 --> 00:13:02.140 are hell-bent on excusing low performance and setting the bar way too low. 00:13:03.060 --> 00:13:10.720 During their time at school, each child undergoes around about 1,600 hours of instruction in mathematics. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:16.440 Now, let's take just for argument, I know Charlie's been talking about grade C at GCSE, 00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:22.540 but let's take that just for argument that grade C GCSE mathematics, those topics are a level of success. 00:13:22.540 --> 00:13:36.436 Now if you asked anyone preferably not a maths teacher if you asked anyone that after 1 hours of instruction can you do these things everybody would say yes of course you can You must be able to do those things 00:13:37.316 --> 00:13:38.956 Now, I know it's not very fashionable to say, 00:13:39.296 --> 00:13:42.516 but GCSE mathematics grade C just is not taxing. 00:13:43.436 --> 00:13:47.516 So why is it that thousands of children find it so incredibly taxing? 00:13:47.636 --> 00:13:49.816 Why is it that so many of them don't get there? 00:13:50.036 --> 00:13:53.616 And the answer is that those 1,600 hours aren't doing the trick. 00:13:55.836 --> 00:13:59.796 Kids fail GCSE not because they can't do the things on the checklist. 00:13:59.796 --> 00:14:03.116 They fail GCSE because they haven't got a clue what's going on in the subject. 00:14:03.696 --> 00:14:06.556 At some point along the way, they just lose it. 00:14:07.616 --> 00:14:13.656 I've been writing a curriculum recently designed to take any learner from counting to calculus. 00:14:14.456 --> 00:14:18.256 And I think that with the right journey, every single child can do that by age 15. 00:14:18.856 --> 00:14:20.636 Maths isn't an arbitrary set of topics. 00:14:21.036 --> 00:14:22.756 It's a discipline founded on axioms. 00:14:23.276 --> 00:14:26.576 And like being able to play a piano concerto, write a novel, bake a cake, 00:14:26.916 --> 00:14:30.496 you have to know the goods to be able to produce the outcome. 00:14:31.236 --> 00:14:40.696 I can't say strongly enough, but if you don't have a full grasp of numerosity, place value, the base 10 system, arithmetic and proportional reasoning, then you'll cut off forever. 00:14:41.636 --> 00:14:48.676 Later on, once the fundamental elements are in place, you can experiment, you can be creative, you can use imagination, you can construct lots of new knowledge. 00:14:50.536 --> 00:15:03.751 Yet even though we know this for some inexplicable reason the curriculum and the teaching of it seems to ignore that these fundamental facts are non The curriculum especially when enhanced by the inspection regime puts mathematics 00:15:03.751 --> 00:15:08.931 as a set of skills on a fast-moving conveyor belt that can't be put into rewind and can't be stopped. 00:15:10.491 --> 00:15:14.951 The things that are on the curriculum are okay, but it just pays no attention to how we should 00:15:14.951 --> 00:15:20.391 master areas before moving on. I despair when I hear 15-year-olds trying to solve equations and 00:15:20.391 --> 00:15:21.611 they don't know anything about number. 00:15:22.311 --> 00:15:24.991 Somewhere along the line, the conveyor belt serves up, say, arithmetic, 00:15:25.271 --> 00:15:27.671 and they don't get it, and it just keeps going. 00:15:28.011 --> 00:15:29.951 And we serve up the next thing, so they don't get that, 00:15:30.011 --> 00:15:31.631 and they don't get it, and they don't get the next thing. 00:15:32.451 --> 00:15:33.871 And teachers need to be brave. 00:15:34.331 --> 00:15:36.971 They need to ignore Ofsted and certain types of SMT. 00:15:37.331 --> 00:15:38.731 They need to know their kids. 00:15:39.131 --> 00:15:40.451 They need to know mathematics. 00:15:41.011 --> 00:15:43.031 And they need to know which children have 00:15:43.031 --> 00:15:46.331 and which children have not mastered mathematical concepts, 00:15:46.331 --> 00:15:49.111 and then ensure that every single child does so. 00:15:49.771 --> 00:15:52.571 See, the thing is, it might seem scary, the curriculum powers on, 00:15:52.931 --> 00:15:54.351 and you might feel that you're being left behind. 00:15:54.431 --> 00:15:56.291 You might think that somebody will tell you off. 00:15:56.851 --> 00:16:00.191 But the point of education is to do what's right for the children in our care, 00:16:00.471 --> 00:16:01.651 not to please our masters. 00:16:02.911 --> 00:16:06.351 When children understand the basics, they'll accelerate through the rest of the stuff. 00:16:06.411 --> 00:16:07.311 So don't worry about it. 00:16:07.431 --> 00:16:11.491 Don't try and shoehorn children into, you must learn this because you're this age. 00:16:11.851 --> 00:16:13.211 And everyone blames everybody else. 00:16:13.311 --> 00:16:16.891 Secondary teachers blame primary teachers, and primary teachers blame policymakers, 00:16:17.071 --> 00:16:18.611 and blame Ofsted, and blame the mass community. 00:16:18.611 --> 00:16:20.911 but the truth is it's our fault 00:16:20.911 --> 00:16:22.451 every one of us 00:16:22.451 --> 00:16:34.487 we all been complicit in allowing this kind of system to exist and allowing standards to be so dreadfully low I always talk about maths as a giant jenga At the top these blocks up here 00:16:34.487 --> 00:16:40.387 are the GCSE topics. But kids aren't failing GCSE because of these things here. They're failing 00:16:40.387 --> 00:16:45.107 because the blocks down the bottom are loose, wobbly, or completely missing. So the whole tower 00:16:45.107 --> 00:16:50.727 just tumbles. And we should all feel really ashamed about that. So in terms of how do we make 00:16:50.727 --> 00:16:56.707 mathematics relevant well let's build a system where every single child passes mathematics thank 00:16:56.707 --> 00:16:57.567 you 00:16:57.567 --> 00:17:14.407 thank you very much and thank you for the chance to speak at this meeting um from the higher education 00:17:14.407 --> 00:17:20.127 academy we wanted to look at this problem from the obviously from the higher education the degree 00:17:20.127 --> 00:17:37.827 level angle. So we, as has been said, I'm the head of STEM and we realise that mathematics 00:17:37.827 --> 00:17:43.847 and statistical skills are fundamental tools for students in HE, not just within the STEM 00:17:43.847 --> 00:17:47.087 subjects but social sciences and right across the board. 00:17:47.687 --> 00:17:52.627 And we understood, as many of you here understand, there's a clear 00:17:52.627 --> 00:17:57.587 need for the UK higher education sector to openly articulate to 00:17:57.690 --> 00:18:03.950 the secondary sector, the true extent and needs for these skills within a wide range of degree subjects. 00:18:04.590 --> 00:18:10.650 So we decided to do a strategic project looking across a range of degree subjects. 00:18:11.370 --> 00:18:16.650 And this was following on the back of the SCORE report and the Nuffield reports, 00:18:16.690 --> 00:18:22.650 which looked at the mathematical content of science degrees and sociology degrees. 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:24.750 They are not degrees, sorry, A-levels. 00:18:24.750 --> 00:18:32.050 They looked at things from the A-level, mathematical assessment in A-levels, and we thought we'd look at it from the degree level. 00:18:32.510 --> 00:18:36.370 What level of maths and stats is required in degree programmes? 00:18:37.050 --> 00:18:40.950 How much quantitative versus qualitative courses are there? 00:18:41.450 --> 00:18:45.670 And what is the understanding and perception of staffs, students and lecturers? 00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:48.850 So we chose this range of subjects here. 00:18:48.850 --> 00:18:54.470 We looked at business, chemistry, computing, economics, geography, psychology and sociology. 00:18:54.750 --> 00:18:59.310 as a range of subjects where we could look at what's happening in greater detail. 00:19:00.050 --> 00:19:03.030 We don't say we're going to come with a great answer. 00:19:03.510 --> 00:19:06.790 What we're saying from this project is we're going to add to the body of knowledge 00:19:06.790 --> 00:19:08.870 of this debate that we're having. 00:19:10.230 --> 00:19:16.690 So far we've done intensive literature reviews in those seven discipline areas, 00:19:17.090 --> 00:19:22.170 but I have to report the amount of literature there is to review is not that great. 00:19:22.170 --> 00:19:34.046 So there isn that much evidence on that sort of degree level and mathematical content We also been holding events bringing teachers and lecturers the secondary sector together 00:19:34.046 --> 00:19:37.486 with the tertiary sector and with other organisations. 00:19:38.526 --> 00:19:45.006 And they have been fascinating events and really have given us a lot of information. 00:19:46.006 --> 00:19:51.006 We've also been running some surveys in those disciplines, asking staff, 00:19:51.006 --> 00:19:54.746 and we're just about to launch some student surveys to get the student perception. 00:19:55.886 --> 00:20:01.466 And we will be publishing seven reports, one for each of those discipline areas in the summer. 00:20:02.266 --> 00:20:04.706 And there will be dissemination of key findings. 00:20:05.486 --> 00:20:10.386 And there will be an overarching report bringing it together with some key recommendations. 00:20:11.146 --> 00:20:17.946 But what I want to do today is to give you some sort of three takeaway messages 00:20:17.946 --> 00:20:20.666 of the early findings that we're finding. 00:20:21.006 --> 00:20:31.406 And what we found, especially around those transition events where we're bringing lecturers and teachers together, there's a genuine recognition of a lack of understanding between the sectors. 00:20:31.986 --> 00:20:43.306 And when people take up their academic job in a university, as their career progresses, their knowledge of the secondary sector gets further and further away over time. 00:20:43.306 --> 00:20:50.986 And it's hard to keep up with your own sector, let alone changes in A-level and all that's going on in another sector. 00:20:51.006 --> 00:21:03.201 So when we brought the academics and the teachers together there was genuine you know amazement about what changes have been on and it was a really good exchange of information And another understanding 00:21:03.201 --> 00:21:08.401 is some people teaching some subjects, like people teaching A-level psychology or different 00:21:08.401 --> 00:21:13.561 subjects, they never went to university and did a degree in that subject, so they can't 00:21:13.561 --> 00:21:18.441 properly explain to the students applying what it's like to go to university and do 00:21:18.441 --> 00:21:23.721 a degree in psychology on what skills you'll need because a lot of the teachers are being asked to 00:21:23.721 --> 00:21:31.341 teach subjects at A level that they're actually they didn't study so at a degree level so there's 00:21:31.341 --> 00:21:38.501 a lack of support there that can be given because they don't have that knowledge themselves so the 00:21:38.501 --> 00:21:43.121 feedback we've had so far that these events are bringing and creating discussion between the two 00:21:43.121 --> 00:21:49.241 sectors is a really helpful dialogue and can really maybe help us help the students make that 00:21:49.241 --> 00:21:55.761 transition because they are the people that we're trying to help is the students and there is also 00:21:55.761 --> 00:22:01.761 a question about I think that's been said before by the previous speakers of where the problem 00:22:01.761 --> 00:22:08.921 lies on the mathematical ability of students doing degrees and they each sector blames the sector 00:22:08.921 --> 00:22:11.081 before or the level before. 00:22:11.081 --> 00:22:14.801 So, and that was true, what we found from this. 00:22:16.061 --> 00:22:19.261 A big, a second finding I want to explain to you 00:22:19.261 --> 00:22:21.121 is about student confidence, 00:22:21.121 --> 00:22:33.097 lots of discussion around maths anxiety We got lots of students in higher education who are very anxious about the term if just the word mathematics they choose modules and pathways through degrees to avoid mathematics 00:22:33.097 --> 00:22:38.857 and we need to make sure that we're empowering them not to you know to be confident about taking 00:22:38.857 --> 00:22:46.057 maths not avoiding maths and a huge requirement to develop student confidence and a huge problem 00:22:46.057 --> 00:22:52.297 with coping with a wide spectrum of ability so that's you know for me one of the strong 00:22:52.297 --> 00:22:57.597 takeaway messages is building student confidence and I think that's been said in this morning's 00:22:57.597 --> 00:23:04.117 panel and here and and what has also been said but really is supported by all our findings 00:23:04.117 --> 00:23:09.857 is maths and statistics in context real life problems real what they're at how they're going 00:23:09.857 --> 00:23:15.957 to use that so when they've been taught the a levels they can't take what they've been 00:23:15.957 --> 00:23:21.637 taught and apply it to chemistry or apply it to geography they can't translate and transfer their 00:23:21.637 --> 00:23:28.237 skills so flexibility transferability and the confidence to give these things a go so and real 00:23:28.237 --> 00:23:35.497 life so they're my three takeaway messages is this is about creating discussion and communication 00:23:35.497 --> 00:23:41.017 between sectors building confident students and teaching maths and statistics in context and 00:23:41.017 --> 00:23:43.997 empowering students to be able to have a go at university 00:23:43.997 --> 00:23:47.497 problems and not to avoid maths 00:23:47.497 --> 00:23:49.957 and that. So thank you very much. 00:23:49.957 --> 00:23:51.957 APPLAUSE