UNITED KINGDOM


MATHS: THE ‘MASTERY’ APPROACH Following recent international tests, which showed that pupils in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong performed consistently better than their counterparts in England, the UK government took steps to revise maths teaching in English schools. Shanghai topped the Organisation for Economic Co-operation


and Development’s (OECD) Programme


for International Student Assessment (PISA) test tables in 2012, with 15-year-olds there judged to be three years ahead of those in England. Following visits to schools in China teaching the lauded maths methods, the Asian ‘maths mastery’ approach has been adopted in a selection of schools in England. It is typified by careful planning and ensuring that all children have a grasp of the toughest maths principles, building on their depth of understanding of the structure of maths.


The UK government has made £41 million available to train teachers in the new method. So far, 140 teachers from primary schools in England have been trained by a National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), which was established to help schools adopt the approach. The government’s commitment to placing STEM at the heart of education policy has underpinned much of the recent education reform in England. In a government report, STEM education was pronounced “the foundation of future


economic success” and instrumental in driving innovation and economic growth. Recent reforms to the National Curriculum, GCSEs and A Levels have included more challenging content in mathematics and the sciences and a move to more rigorous assessment, while slimming down the curriculum in other subjects. It is clear that the UK consistently punches above its weight in terms of its international reputation in delivering quality STEM teaching at higher-education levels. Schools in the independent and state sectors are following suit with a raft of innovations in STEM and STEAM teaching, including increased rigour in state schools through the government’s programme of education reform and the independent sector’s commitment to developing the innovators of the future.


EMPLOYERS STEPPING UP


British industry is taking on the development of a passion for STEM subjects among schoolchildren in the UK and beyond, and employers are keen to engage with potential talent at an early stage.


There are lots of initiatives to spark the imagination of the


future workforce, whether they are seeking a vocational career path or a more academic one. Employers in a range of sectors are seeking to benefit the economy and young people by offering everything from bursaries and prize money to education and training programmes and meaningful work experience.


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