Motivation is key to education, not forcing maths on people - Dr Alan Billings

But success in jobs like these doesn’t really depend on being able to do maths but rather on the judgements you have to make once the arithmetic is done – by finance professionals. When I sit down now with the chief constable and look at policing and the funding needed to balance the books not just for the coming year but over the next few years – the medium term – those are the skills that will be put to the test.

It would also be a mistake to assume that those students who never take a maths exam are no good at sums.

At one time in my life I was a board member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and a regular visitor to Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) – prisons for the under 18s – Wetherby, north of Leeds, being one.

Most of the inmates had no formal qualifications in anything, let alone maths. Most had spent little time in school anyway. But when I joined them in a game of darts I quickly realised that their arithmetical skills were formidable.

They multiplied doubles and trebles in a trice, worked out exactly how many points would be needed to win (subtracting initially from 501) and what combination of doubles, trebles or singles would get them there, reacting with great speed if they missed one number and had to adapt to a new tally.

They were just as quick with scoring at snooker and when it came to working out the odds for the dogs and the horses, they left me standing.

The conclusion I draw from all this? The key to education is motivation. We spend a fair bit of time and energy making courses ‘relevant’ or ‘exciting’. We should spend more time thinking about what might motivate someone to do it in the first place. And maths might be the least of our concerns.

This is the month when I take my proposals for the budget and precept for the coming financial year and the results of the consultation I have been running on them, first to the leaders of the four district councils and then the Police and Crime Panel (councillors from each of the districts) for their views.

I need the Panel to accept the proposals. If they don’t, then I have to start again.

As far as the consultations are concerned, this year we had almost 3,000 responses, which was much higher than in previous years. We also had some face-to-face meetings round and about South Yorkshire.

Most people accepted the need for an increase in precept if policing was to be kept at a reasonable level. Only 17 per cent said they did not want to pay more. Last year more than half, 54 per cent, objected to an increase in the precept.

A shortened version of the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire’s latest blog post.