I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Prof. Nira Chamberlain – President of the Mathematical Association for their vlog series discussing ‘What is the Point of Mathematics?’. In our chat we talk about the issue of poor numeracy in the UK and how it effects individuals, society and our economy. I also share my views on whether we should teach maths up to 18 years old. It was a fun chat!
In the interview I mention a couple of statistics I couldn’t confirm. Here are the correct statistics:
1) 45% of state-funded secondary schools surveyed were using non-specialist teachers for at least ‘some’ maths lessons – NFER Report(2021)
2) ‘44% of teachers in England plan to quit within five years’ – Guardian article (11/04/2022)
This video is part of a series Prof. Nira Chamberlain is hosting during his year of presidency. The theme of the vlogs is ‘What is the point of mathematics?’. He believes that this question is a very important one for all people who live and work with mathematics and with the MA, Nira is on a mission to promote and embrace a strong mathematical identity which promotes and supports teachers and those using mathematics, and to boost confidence using, applying, learning and teaching mathematics.
Check out the full series of ‘What is the Point in Mathematics’ vlogs here
Do The Maths Thing 