Let’s calculate the benefits of a good maths education

MATHS education in England certainly needs to be improved as Sheena Hastings outlines (Yorkshire Post, June 21). Like most problems in education, this will not be a simple one to resolve.

Questions that needs to be asked at the start are what is maths, what is it for and who is it for?”

Some answers that come to mind include maths is a tool for thinking, as are languages. When you move from words; one, two, three, to symbols you open up an incredible range of creative possibilities.

Mathematical tools can be used to solve problems that may be very difficult by other means. I went back to my GCE Trigonometry to make a foam cushion to fit a car seat.

Like all “languages”, the creative possibilities are enormous Einstein and Turing were as creative as Shakespeare and Dante.

However, for most of us, maths and English are more prosaic; but the better the tools that we have for thinking, the more readily we will be able to solve problems, with all the benefits that offers. The benefits may fall to the individual, to a company or to society. This suggestion leads me to say that “Maths must be for everybody”. The creative possibilities of the subject lead to enormous teaching possibilities. Seeing the possibilities that anything holds, be it a skateboard or a ball, mathematics or poetry, is the thing that excites all of us.

Rote learning of tables may be useful in life, but it is very limited in its mathematical scope. Developing tools for problem solving, particularly for problems that are relevant to the individual, offers more interesting possibilities than rote learning. I still have no idea of how many rods, perches or poles there are in furlong, or is in a chain; even though I recited it numerous times in the 40s. I do remember that there were eight half crowns in a pound, but then that was relevant to me.

From: Robert Dring, Keal Cotes, Spilsby.

THANKS for your excellent Editorial (Yorkshire Post, June 20) in support of Geoffrey Boult’s commitment to education, rather than league tables, at Giggleswick School.

I adopted the same approach when Head of a very different school: a small secondary modern in an area where well over 30 per cent of children were selected by grammar schools or establishments with “grammar streams”.

Almost all our pupils took GCSE French, and most took English Literature. An inspector strongly advised us to ditch these subjects in favour of courses which would boost our modest league table position. No chance!

Schools are for education, not pretence. We only had 84 pupils in a year group, and I fear that officials who spent their days drawing fatuous conclusions from small annual fluctuations in our GCSE results would themselves be hard pressed to pass any statistics exam!

From: Coun Ralph Berry, City Hall, Bradford.

AS we get near to the first anniversary of the return to Bradford Council of many education services I hope you will have all seen the positive launch – of the Achievement Strategy – which took place recently.

Raising educational achievement for all children is a key priority for the council and its partners, so it has been good to be able to build upon the views and ideas of all those who contributed to this ambitious and clear statement of our common vision.

It is unfortunate that from time to time there will be those who seek to dismiss or belittle the commitment we have made, so it is vital that we are clear and dedicated to getting the very best for each and every child.

While not wishing to be in any way complacent, it is worth noting that in the primary phase a greater proportion of our schools are judged by Ofsted to be good or better than is the case nationally.

Nationally 54 per cent of schools are either good or outstanding whereas in Bradford this figure is 68 per cent.

Our secondary schools have worked together across all types of school to ensure that they provide a good quality of education irrespective of the postcode from which the young people come. They have the collective ambition, as do their primary colleagues, that all our schools will be good or better.

Our task is to continue to work together to raise educational standards and to foster the sense that all parts of the educational community can make a difference if we all pull in the same direction.