HSC advanced maths, physics and chemistry enrolments have fallen, but experts say there are ways to reverse the decline.
Top engineers and scientists say the nation’s mathematics crisis is at a tipping point, warning Australia’s ability to compete globally will be severely hindered without a dramatic lift in the number of teenagers studying the subject at a higher level.
About a third of students taking maths extension 2 this year are girls, down from 40 per cent in 2004.“We need that pool of advanced maths students to draw from for engineering and sciences. If we don’t boost numbers we will fall further behind and our economy will be less competitive,” MacMaster said.This year, a third of students taking the toughest HSC maths extension 2 course are girls, sliding from almost 40 per cent in 2004.
“The single biggest thing we can do to encourage kids to do maths at higher levels is teach it really well from primary,” Ashman said. “From the ground up, from the first year. If we do that, students will learn the maths, see their success and become motivated.” “Maths is hierarchical. We need to test students to make sure they know a concept before moving to the next topic,” and don’t switch to problem-solving tasks too early, he says.
“There are lots of schools out there without a qualified teacher to take extension maths. When an extension teacher in a regional area retires it leaves an enormous gap. Schools can go five or six years when there’s just no one to fill that gap,” Woo said.Woo says teacher retraining programs are needed at scale. “We need to be serious about that, and recruiting. We need to think about covering the cost of education degrees and more support for our existing workforce,” he said.
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