Oxford Brookes University recently announced it will no longer be offering mathematics degrees. This follows reported reductions or proposed cuts at other universities.
This is a problem for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s vision for improved maths skills across the nation. Sunak has laid out a vision for young people to study maths to age 18. The goal is to ensure that “every young person has the maths skills they need to succeed”.
This focus on maths was also evident in chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s 2023 autumn statement. This included funding for a national academy of mathematical sciences to build links between mathematicians in education, academia, industry and government.
But the success of the prime minister’s vision, and the health of mathematics education more generally, rests largely on specialist maths teachers with a mathematics degree. These teachers are needed to educate young people in maths up to the age of 18. They teach the maths skills young people need to go on to study the subject further and use it in their future jobs.
