All young people should continue to study maths at least until they are 18, even if they have already gained a good GCSE in the subject, the Sutton Trust said today, because the GCSE curriculum fails to give them the practical skills they need in the modern workplace.

New research for the Trust shows that those who achieve a good GCSE grade by 16 need a new qualification covering statistics, modelling and other practical applications. The research by Professor Jeremy Hodgen and Dr Rachel Marks, of King’s College London, shows that maths is essential in many jobs that are not traditionally associated with the subject, and that it is crucial that young people have the skills to adapt what they have learnt at school to the workplace.

Far from being opposed by today’s schoolchildren, polling by Ipsos MORI for the Sutton Trust of 2,595 11-16 year-olds, also released today, suggests that it would be a popular move: the poll reveals that nearly two-thirds of young people believe they should continue learning maths and English to age 18.

The new report reviews over 50 studies to examine the type of maths needed in today’s workplace. It finds that while the GCSE mathematics curriculum covers the concepts that most workers will need, the curriculum does not equip young people to apply what they have learned.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said today: “Few would proudly proclaim their illiteracy. Yet many happily say they are no good at maths. The education system reinforces this attitude. For the vast majority of young people, mathematics finishes with GCSEs. Unlike other developed countries, only one in seven young people studies advanced maths beyond 16.

“Maths matters too much to discontinue studying it at 16. Young people’s ability to benefit fully from higher education and play a productive role in the workplace depends increasingly on their mathematical competence.”

The report’s author, Jeremy Hodgen, Professor of Mathematics Education at King’s College London, said: “Our review suggests there are significant features of workplace mathematics not generally reflected in school mathematics. Changes in workplace practices have resulted in mathematical application and understanding becoming an essential skill for all workers, even in relatively unskilled jobs. Today’s workplace has a wealth of numerical and graphical information. Making good use of this information requires mathematical skills.”

The report shows that today’s workforce needs skills in mental arithmetic, estimation and approximation, reasoning, using and interpreting calculators or spreadsheets, and interpreting tables, graphs and diagrams. GCSE maths teaches these skills, but not their application.

For example, paediatric nurses need to have a good idea of the relationship of millilitres to milligrams in administering medicine. If they don’t, the results could be fatal. Equally, a mortgage adviser is often presented with a simple graph explaining the savings a customer might make, but should be sufficiently knowledgeable to apply and explain that model and its assumptions to clients who don’t fit expected patterns if they are to do their job successfully.

“Many workplace settings require the sophisticated use of these basic mathematical skills, particularly when workers are faced with modelling scenarios,” the report says. The report recommends that a new mathematics qualification should be developed for students not taking maths A-levels that covers fluency, modelling and statistics for 16-18 year-olds.

At present, only 20% of young people continue studying maths post 16 in contrast to students in virtually all other OECD countries where the majority do so. Young people in England and Wales who have not gained at least a GCSE grade C will in future be expected to continue studying for a GCSE until at least the age of 18 if they are doing further school or college courses.

In the poll, 64% of all young people support – including 17% strongly supporting – the idea that all young people who are at school or college should study some English and maths until they are 18 years old. Although support declines a little as students approach GCSEs, the proposition is still supported by 53% of Year 11s, with 35% opposing the idea.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 120 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to Access to the Professions.

2. Conducted at King’s College London, the report, The Employment Equation: Why our young people need more Maths for today’s jobs, is based on a literature review of more than 50 recent studies of the use of mathematics in the workplace by Jeremy Hodgen, Professor of Mathematical Education, and Dr Rachel Marks of the Department of Education and Professional Studies. The report is available on the Sutton Trust website.

3. A specialist school for talented young mathematicians is being developed by King’s College London as part of the Government’s plans to improve mathematics education in the state sector and increase the number of mathematically talented young people with the right levels of attainment to study STEM subjects at top-rated universities.  The College has received a development grant from the Department for Education and the College-sponsored school is expected to open in September 2014.

4. The Sutton Trust added questions to Ipsos MORI’s 2013 Young People Omnibus.  The findings are based on data from a representative sample of 2,595 11-16 year olds attending maintained schools in England and Wales. The research was conducted in a sample of schools, with pupils filling out paper self-completion questionnaires under supervision by Ipsos MORI’s interviewers. Fieldwork was conducted between 1 February and 19 April 2013. Data has been weighted by school year, gender and region to match the profile of school children across England and Wales. The question on English and Maths was as follows:

Q: Some people have said that all young people who are at school or college should study some English and Maths until they are 18 years old. How far do you support or oppose this idea?

  Year of pupil
  Total Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
Base All 2595 516 477 506 636 460
Strongly support 17% 18% 25% 19% 15% 8%
Support 47% 47% 45% 50% 47% 45%
Oppose 17% 13% 10% 16% 20% 26%
Strongly oppose 6% 4% 5% 4% 7% 9%
Don’t know 11% 15% 12% 9% 9% 11%
Not Stated 2% 3% 3% 2% 2% 1%

5. We needs maths to 18 now by Professor Jeremy Hodgen for the Sutton Trust blog.

6. Why do we neglect maths? It doesn’t add up by Sir Peter Lampl for The Times.