16th April 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Education minister Elizabeth Truss has warned that not enough state schools are offering Further Maths as an option for A level students. She has suggested that this failure to provide further maths teaching is causing these students to miss out on places at top universities to study maths and science.
Although there has been a 45% increase in the number of students in the sixth from taking double maths at A level, the uptake is still relatively low at a mere 13,223. Further maths is often regarded as desirable, and in some cases even essential, for the study of maths and science courses at top universities. However, less than one in six pupils who take maths at A level also study further maths.
In an endeavour to increase the number of pupils studying the further maths course, the government intends to ensure that every school offers both maths and further maths to A level students. The funding for a programme to increase the uptake is set to increase to £5 million a year for the next 5 years. Currently only 60% of state schools and colleges offer maths and further maths at A level and further adds to the UK’s poor numeracy skills.
More than 2,500 schools have now registered with the scheme which provides teachers with extra training and online tutoring for pupils. Furthermore, the additional funding will go towards preparing students to sit the STEP, AEA and MAT exams required by leading universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial College London. After English, Maths is currently the second most popular A level with 85, 714 students sitting the exams for the subject last year.