In full: PM Rishi Sunak pledges to end 'anti-maths mindset' to help grow the economy

The UK must end its "anti-maths mindset" to help grow the economy, according to Rishi Sunak.

The Prime Minister announced an expert-led review into how to carry out his plan to ensure all pupils in England study some form of maths up to the age of 18, without making maths A-Level compulsory.

In a speech in north London, he criticised a "cultural sense that it's OK to be bad at maths" which is putting children "at a disadvantage" by failing to equip them with the analytical skills needed for the modern workplace.

#rishisunak #maths #politics

Subscribe to The Telegraph with our special offer: just £1 for 3 months. Start your free trial now:

[bhattkishan]

There are some British who are against this, but the same people are forgetting the reason that the UK imports so much skilled labour - especially in STEM fields is because of the lackluster performance by British students in Maths.
It's actually a win for Britain in the long run! Put your political affiliations aside for a second and look at things as they are!

[donaldellis]

Will this solve the mess that this country is in and has for the past decade and a bit??

[mattj]

I understand why maths and all stem subjects are good/useful, but what’s the point these days with how low salaries are so low? So many people who do STEM could earn more learning a trade. Paying £45k to get a math degree to earn about 30k a year isn’t worth it when average houses are 10x that.

Further issue, the best engineering and mathematicians in the country typically go work in finance anyway because it actually pays a good salary. Depressing really, many of the brightest minds we produce will end up serving the few rather than helping the many.

To be clear, I agree with Rishi that Maths is very important. But there’s a diminishing incentive in this country to focus on academics, if they can’t fix wealth inequality then I don’t see them encouraging people to do these subject, nursing, medicine etc or at least these individuals won’t stay in the UK.

[ltshadosniper]

A Levels compared to other systems such as the IB or Canadian Curriculum, limits 15-16 Yr olds to only a handful of subjects. On top of that, most students at that age have no idea what they want to do academically or as a career path at that age, but the A Level system prevents that flexibility by the time they finish school or start university.

For example:
• A Level students take 3-4 subjects. (Ex: English, History, Biology)

• Where as IB/International curriculums allow students to still choose but take 8-9 subjects per year.

• So by year 13, if someone who wanted to study psychology at university but then wanted to study Italian or German hypothetically, they would be hard pressed to since they have not shown the academic ability to pursue a language, since they have no experience in doing so. Therefore being turned down by universities and more importantly, possibly denying young people from reaching or discovering their full potential.

Inherently, the A Level system needs to change or reform as it has shown to be falling behind other curriculums. We have prided ourselves on our education system that is outdated. It denies certain individuals from reaching their potential.

P.S: Sorry for the long post.

[Napoleonwilson]

If 100, 000 dinghys come over this year for the next ten years doubling the number each year how many illegals in ten years ?

[cripticadventures]

I think a System change is in order, not forcing everyone, many of which don't sit well with Math. Go listen to what Simon Pegg had to say on the matter. Rishi Sunak is so disconnected from real people.

[pekkaastrom]

A brilliant Prime Minister, indeed. Great Britain should feel proud of him.❤

[garybjorkelund]

Bigger issues in this country
Get the bigger issues sorted
Immigration
Cost of living
And Tory government continues to put people in poverty
😮

[RichardEnglander]

But Rishi, the teachers don't know what a binary is and they think that being accurate is white supremacist, how will they teach maths?

[Lemingtona-xg]

i like the latest news about his wifes business dealings

[akshayganesh]

Hope that math helps him to solve the inflation and nhs crisis. 😂😂

[Twn_Turbo]

Some people are born not being any good at maths. Why are we forcing people to pursue a subject they might not be good at, instead of letting them choose what they excel in?

I felt this exact way when I had to take a language at GCSE, I ended up dropping the subject as my grades were so poor, it just didn't click

[vinparaffin]

"Just put up a sign saying, 'stop the boats' behind me, and people will vote for us in their millions" what a load of shoemakers! What use is the nonsense to British people on the wall behind him? Don't tell us what needs doing DO IT!

[derderrr]

i think foundation skill set is the phrase your looking for

[vcwloves]

In the US, we ALL have to take math, but I'm not sure that it makes a difference. Some form of math is needed up until your 2nd year of college--with the exception of technical colleges. Math just isn't for everyone... 🤷‍♀️

[SS-gowi]

Maths??? Is this going to solve brexit??? Where are these brexit benefits???

[uzzalbhaumik]

This could be the best things for GB as number is everything and everywhere, going forward it will be more visible.

[strongerpoint]

Once again proved Rishi sunak is a great leader. He may not chosen by people. But he is the only pm working on people problems. Great. Long live rishi!

[GFY-rl]

Perhaps cookies and milk giveaways would be a nice tax break for the people of Great Britain. The people had better check on the guaranteed security of their pension. Don’t need the type of scenario that is playing out in Paris. However, judging from the giggles and grins coming from Sunak and his cabinet, Britain’s indentured class can feel confident knowing their pension funds are not being misdirected to shady offshore corporations. 😂😂😂

[dhickey]

Wow. That's exactly it. Well done.