"When Will We Ever Use This in Real Life?"
New Funding for Core Maths - Why this is So Important and How You Can Take Advantage of It.
For some classroom teachers, the phrase 'when will we ever use this in real life?' uttered from students can be quite deflating. For others, it's an opportunity to relate maths to the wider world. With new funding for the Core Maths Programme, this could provide us all with a helpful solution.
With some maths teachers teaching only in 11-16 institutions, it is perhaps understandable that some know very little about it.
Core Maths is specifically designed to meet the needs of these students. It builds from GCSE Maths, teaching students to apply maths to real-world contexts they will meet in other areas of study, work and life – from interpreting data and statistical information on topical issues such as climate change and inflation, to understanding mathematical models and making sense of personal finance. All young people need these skills.
This is an example of a question that students might tackle in Core Maths:
Rachel earns £11.22 an hour and works 40 hours a week.
Rachel pays income tax and National Insurance on her wages. Use an online calculator to find how much she takes home each week after these taxes.
She rents a flat costing £615 a month and also spends £185 a month on essential household bills and about £60 a week on food and drink.
How much does she have left each month to spend on other things?
What other things might she spend money on?
Plan a monthly budget for Rachel to include all her spending.
A friend tells Rachel she could buy a similar flat, pay a bit less each month on mortgage repayments than she does on rent, and end up owning the flat once she had paid for it. Rachel would need to save a deposit of £15,000 to be able to buy a flat. Estimate how long it will take her to save this amount. State clearly any assumptions you make.
Core Maths is a Level 3 qualification, like AS/A levels. It's the same size as an AS level, and carries the same number of UCAS points. It’s designed to be taken alongside three A levels or a Level 3 technical programme.
Students and teachers of Core Maths value the qualification highly, but currently only around a third of schools and colleges offering post-16 programmes teach Core Maths, and just over 12,000 students took it last year. Currently, the majority of young people in England who achieve a grade 4 or above in GCSE Maths stop studying the subject at age 16. This is more than 200,000 young people each year. In other developed countries, a far higher proportion of young people study maths post-16. Our young people are missing out.
This new funding is a major step towards the aspiration that, within 10 years, all young people will study maths to age 18, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to become informed citizens, ready to play a full part in society. This is something that Charlie Stripp, Director of the NCETM feels passionate about. To discover more from his blog, click here:
if you are interested in knowing more about the support that the Yorkshire and the Humber Maths Hub can offer, please email yhmathshub@outwood.com.
