A Labour government will tackle the “chronic cultural problem with maths” by making sure it is taught better to children from a younger age, the shadow education secretary will say.
Bridget Phillipson will set out the party’s plans to boost “real world” maths teaching in primary schools and early intervention to encourage stronger lifelong numeracy.
In a speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Ms Phillipson will say she wants practical numeracy skills that are required at work and in daily life to be part of learning “right from the start”.
Labour’s plan will centre on upskilling primary school teachers so they can deliver high quality maths teaching, and it will also launch an expert-led review to drive high standards in education.
The party said it would task its Curriculum Review with bringing maths to life and directing teachers to show children how numeracy is used in the world around them – such as through household budgeting, currency exchange rates when going on holiday, sports league tables and cookery recipes.
This would include bringing elements of financial literacy into maths teaching, such as using the concept of Individual Savings Accounts to teach about percentages.
It comes after prime minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to introduce the Advanced British Standard (ABS) – a new single post-16 qualification which will eventually replace A-levels and T-levels.
Under the long-term reforms, 16- to 19-year-olds in England will typically study five subjects and they will be required to study some form of English and Mathematics until the age of 18.
Labour’s intervention would seek to target problems with childhood numeracy that persist into adulthood – such as the inability to analyse basic graphs and calculate the value of supermarket offers.
