There is no question of the fact that mathematics teaching is in some form of crisis - although the shortage of specialist maths teachers has been fundamental to this problem - but watching David Cameron and Carol Vorderman frolic in the snow following the announcement of her chairing of a maths task force brings to mind what should be the point of maths teaching? Unlike say, physics, some maths is essential to people's day-to-day lives.
The vast majority of students will never need (or probably want !) to move beyond the basics of arithmetic (or the other disciplines) but some is essential for daily life. But mathematics is also a stunning academic subject in its own right but the teaching of the subject is not designed to feed itself into a more academic A level.
Wondering whether there ought to be a Maths certificate which means that a person has got fundamentals and will not be fazed by the numbers that they will meet in ordinary life - or jobs .
But there should be a chance for people who want to study maths as a subject to go down the more academic path ... feeding into say the binomial theorem, calculus, statistics....
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