Vorderman report calls for maths to be studied up to 18

The review, led by TV personality Carol Vorderman, says radical change is needed to give children the mathematical skills they need to get on in a modern workplace where numeracy is ever more important.

The report found the current system is failing young people, with almost half of 16-year-olds failing to achieve grade C at GCSE and only 15 per cent studying maths beyond that level – compared to 100 per cent in most industrialised nations.

Ms Vorderman said that each year more than 300,000 16-year-olds – enough to stretch in a line from London to Leeds – conclude their maths studies without enough understanding of the subject to function properly in their work or private lives.

Some 24 per cent of economically active adults are “functionally innumerate”, and universities and employers complain that school-leavers do not have the maths skills that they need.

The report blames the system for maths teaching, arguing that many primary school teachers – almost all of whom gave up maths at 16 themselves – are not adequately prepared to teach the subject.

Too much of the final year at primary school is taken up by preparations for SATs exams, results from which are ignored by many secondaries, said the report.

A quarter of secondary pupils are taught maths by non-specialist teachers due to staff shortages. And the GCSE curriculum is skewed towards the kind of advanced topics which will be needed by those going on to do maths at A-level, but will put off less gifted pupils.

A key recommendation of the report – commissioned by Mr Cameron and Mr Gove in opposition in 2009 – is to split the current maths GCSE into two separate exams.

One would offer a higher standard of education in the core areas of the curriculum, such as basic numeracy and personal finance, while the other acts as a preparation for A-level.

While all pupils should study maths to 18, this would not necessarily be in the form of an A-level or AS-level course, but should include options to suit all abilities.

Ms Vorderman said mathematics was a critically important subject. “This report does not make comfortable reading. It is aspirational but this does not mean making maths ‘harder’ for everyone; it means making the teaching better and what is taught much more suitable for those who are learning it.”

Mr Gove said: “As Carol and her team point out so powerfully, we are falling behind our competitors when it comes to mathematics education.

“British 15-year-olds’ mathematics skills are now more than two whole academic years behind 15-year-olds in Shanghai and the last decade has seen us plummet down the international league tables in both maths and science.”