On 4 January 2023, the prime minister Rishi Sunak recognised the importance and need for “some form of maths for everyone up to age 18” in England: a centerpiece of his first speech of the year setting the direction of policy for the coming years.
Reflecting on the announcement and sector responses over the past 24 hours, on balance, we feel that this is great news. This very public and positive message about how central maths is to the economy and society is a welcome recognition of its importance in terms of skills for modern employment.
Taking the realities of current provision for maths for 16 to 18 year olds as a starting point, it is clear that significant challenges lay ahead to achieve the new goal of maths for all up to age 18. For the policy to succeed, it requires (1) funding, (2) solutions that will work in the different FE contexts and (3) a sufficient workforce. The large volume of online responses from the sector to this announcement, make these three points again and again, demonstrating the united view from the sector.
