Industry leaders have called for the study of mathematics to become compulsory, citing a lack of graduates with the necessary skill sets to complete analytical work. The Australian Financial Review reports that consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Jodie Sangster, the Chief Executive of the Association of Data-driven Marketing and Advertising, have both called for better education in mathematics, which is only compulsory until Year 10 in some states in Australia. This follows a recent announcement by the University of Sydney that, from 2019, a number of popular courses will have mathematics as a prerequisite to enrolment.

Compulsory mathematics

Generally, the only subject that is compulsory for all Australian high schools is English. In Queensland and South Australia, students must complete one mathematics subject during Year 12. Although in 2014, 81% of Australian students were enrolled in a maths subject during their final years of school, there has been a marked decline in the number of students participating in intermediate and advanced mathematics courses which give students the necessary skills for complex tasks necessary in several career paths, such as data analysis.

Ms Sangster argues that mathematics should be compulsory, as the skills learned in more advanced areas of study are essential for many tasks in the digital economy. The changes in many professions mean that professions such as marketing now require skills and information only explored in the later years of mathematics at school. The Australian Financial Review reports that the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute has also called upon universities to reinstate prerequisites that demonstrate the level of competency in mathematics that is necessary to complete the course material.

The changes to the skills needed in many professions and the decrease in advanced mathematics enrolments has caused a wide knowledge gap which Ms Sangster believes would be best addressed by introducing compulsory mathematics during all of high school.

Problems facing mathematics education

A study recently released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developement (OECD) (Study) revealed that 20% of all Australian students were classified as ‘low-performers’ in mathematics. This category describes students that lack the basic mathematics skills necessary to participate fully in modern life. The Study acknowledged that the poor performance of these students is a result of a combination of factors, with lower scores more likely among students from a low socio-economic background and female students. However, the Study also found that a higher quality of education significantly increased the student’s likelihood of success. The findings of the OECD reinforce calls made by industry and educational leaders to focus on mathematics education around Australia.

The core issues facing mathematics education are a:

• lack of qualified teachers; and
• gender imbalance in mathematics.

The shortage of qualified mathematics teachers can have serious consequences for a school’s capacity to offer more advanced mathematics courses. In some smaller schools, there are no mathematics graduates on staff, so the subject must be taught by someone who lacks the necessary qualifications. The decrease in qualified teachers leads to lower quality education meaning students can have poor learning experiences and therefore decide to drop mathematics as a subject. As very few university courses currently require mathematics as a prerequisite, students often lack the incentives to voluntarily choose to complete an advanced mathematics subject in their final years of school.

The Age reported that Monash University is attempting to address the lack of engagement through its program Remstep. Currently, the focus on teaching almost exclusively from textbooks can create problems for both students and teachers. Students can fail to grasp the real world applications of their lessons and will disengage, whilst teachers find it difficult to create positive experiences for their students which can be demoralising and frustrating. The Remstep program aims to integrate mathematics with science, a subject in which student results are also in decline. The combination of the two subjects aims to create more interesting content and helps to train new mathematics and science teachers in creating engaging and interesting lesson plans.

A final core issue is the ongoing gender imbalance in areas such as mathematics. As areas such as science and engineering remain dominated by men, more women choose to pursue subjects or degrees in humanities, health or languages. A recent study from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research revealed that this trend is in spite of girls gaining equal or better results in subjects like mathematics when they choose to study them. The perception that mathematics and science are male-dominated subjects can lead to fewer girls enrolling in these subjects at school, which only furthers the gender-disparity in degrees like engineering, which remains one of the few university degrees that requires knowledge of advanced mathematics.

Changing expectations from universities and employers

These calls for greater focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in schools have been bolstered by industry and university leaders.

The University of Sydney has announced that from 2019, advanced mathematics will become a prerequisite for a number of popular courses including economics, commerce, engineering and IT, psychology, pharmacy, veterinary science and science. Currently students who have not studied mathematics or those who opt to study a brief bridging course before they commence their degrees fail at a higher rate than their peers as they lack the necessary skills to complete the course work.

PwC has also created a program that funds entrepreneurs in the area of STEM education to incentivise greater participation among students and reward innovation among educators.

The shift to a digital economy will likely create more incentives for students to participate in STEM subjects, particularly mathematics due to the wide range of applications for the skills that students learn. However, the fundamental problem of a lack of adequately trained mathematics teachers remains, and if calls to increase student participation are to succeed, the quality and number of teachers must also be improved.

Our article High teacher attrition rate causes fear of teacher shortage discussed different initiatives used in the UK to create more attractive job opportunities for mathematics graduates in education. If Australia wishes to increase the capacity of the education system to teach advanced mathematics, strategies to attract high quality candidates must also be developed to address the current shortage.