Rishi Sunak’s maths announcement just doesn’t add up due to shortage of teachers - Jayne Dowle

He was keen to stress the career opportunities available to people with numerical qualifications, saying, “in a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, our children’s jobs will require more analytical skills than ever before”.

It’s not the first time a politician has come up with mandatory mathematics as a catch-all for educational and economic ills; in 2011 the then Education Secretary, Michael Gove, suggested a similar policy, but not much came of it.

Probably because there simply aren’t enough maths teachers to go round; according to official figures, only 90 per cent of the target set by the government for trainee maths teachers was met this academic year and it has been as low as 64 per cent in recent years.

And it is true that in many European countries, which adopt a broader curriculum base throughout schooling, maths is studied until 18. This is being used by government supporters as a justification for Mr Sunak’s big idea.

Isn’t it interesting how these same supporters don’t want anything to do with Europe until it suits their own political ends?

Whilst most UK citizens now can’t stay in EU countries for more than 90 days at a time, easily study in European universities or even travel through for work - just ask anyone in the entertainment industry - without bureaucratic tangles of paperwork, we’re now considering condemning our kids to compulsory calculations just because their German counterparts have done it for years.

As a parent, ex-parent governor and former university lecturer, I can see no sense in forcing post-16s to study a subject they have no aptitude for.

Mr Sunak has clearly never had to deal with a class-full of savvy young adults who know their own minds and are making their own choices about study and training. You can take them to the classroom, but you can’t force them to think about data if all they want to do is dance, or paint, or become a cabin crew member or a car mechanic.

There’s definitely precious little understanding of the real world of education in Mr Sunak’s lofty aims for algorithms.

I pity the tutors charged with delivering maths courses to students still struggling to pass GCSE or Functional Skills, the qualification my son, now aged 20, eventually ended up with after failing maths GCSE several times.

His grasp, analysis and prediction of football statistics is mind-blowing, but put poor Jack in front of a maths exam paper and he falls apart.

Completely opposite to her brother, my daughter, Lizzie, in her first year at sixth form college, possesses clear mathematical ability– she gets it from her father – and has chosen to undertake a year-long practical and applied mathematics qualification alongside her A levels of psychology, English language and history.

I totally supported her in this. In fact, I was delighted. Although her potential career ideas currently vary between lawyer, psychologist and screenwriter, I told her she will find any of them requiring more maths, stats and calculations than she might expect.

As a journalist, I spend a lot of my time dealing with data – graphs, charts, percentages – and interpreting what I find to back up a hunch or to prove a point.

Although I do have massive caveats about the Prime Minister’s proposal, I can see some logic in the idea. It is important that our young people understand and appreciate that maths pops up in more places than they can ever imagine. However, teaching it up to the age of 18 should not be enforced like an instrument of torture.

It requires an imaginative integration into existing subjects, as well as proper provision of specialist further maths courses for those who show interest and ability.

Given the endemic issues in teaching numeracy from Foundation stage upwards, the parlous shortage of maths teachers, lack of funding for post-16 education and the ongoing war of attrition between the government and the teaching profession, I can’t see any of it adding up.