BBC – Judith Burns
“A report from the Advisory Council on Mathematics Education (ACME) suggests teachers responsible for maths in both primary and secondary schools need better qualifications and training. Without more good teachers efforts to improve skills were “built on sand”, said report author Robert Barbour. The government said it had prioritised maths teacher recruitment. Global school rankings published in May this year put UK pupils 20th in the world for maths and science. ACME notes 94% of initial teacher training in England was rated good or outstanding by Ofsted last year but urges “a step change” for maths teacher training to “meet the challenge of England becoming a world-class mathematics education system”. “We are not at the bottom, we are not a basket case,” said Mr Barbour, who added that he felt maths teaching in England should “aspire to level with the best”. The authors compared maths teacher training in England with four of the world’s most successful education systems: Singapore, Shanghai, Germany and Massachusetts.”(more)