Adam Spencer, the inaugural mathematics and science ambassador for the University of Sydney, has welcomed a decision to dump making maths compulsory in years 11 and 12.
The axing of a plan to make maths compulsory for the state’s year 11 and 12 students has been welcomed by teachers and mathematicians who say it was a top-down solution which would do little to lift students’ proficiency in the subject.
“You could take up history in year 11 having never studied it, you might get the same history mark as someone who had. If you sat out of maths for a year, which you might be doing with a teacher, it is really hard to get back on top of the subject,” he said.Mathematics teacher, researcher and author Dr Greg Ashman was against making the subject compulsory, labelling it a “top-down solution”.
He warned such motivation was often stymied by fashionable teaching trends such as inquiry-based learning and “productive struggle”, where students persevere trying to solve a task on their own, as opposed to explicit instruction, where a teacher clearly explains every step to solve a problem. Mark Scott last year observed how primary school teachers may be “maths avoiders”, and divert classroom activities away from numeracy because they were either suffered from maths anxiety or struggled themselves with maths.New curriculums developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority have been rolled out in primary and secondary schools this year in a bid to make mathematics content clearer and more sequenced for teachers.
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