Sum of us, not some of us: mathematicians

Leading academics are calling for a campaign to make maths appeal to students and increase the number of teachers. By Jennifer Bennett. The federal government should appoint a national adviser in mathematics and set up a campaign to raise awareness of the discipline to halt the decline in the number of people studying it, a forum on maths and science in Canberra has been told. The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) invited Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb to speak at its Maths for the Future Forum, along with the University of London’s Professor Celia Hoyle. Hoyle, Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of London and the UK’s chief adviser on mathematics from 2004 to 2007, helped reverse a similar decline in the study of the subject. AMSI believes that appointing someone to such a position in Australia – who would advise, co-ordinate, promote and report on policy to the government – would have a similar impact. “She was so successful in that role and turned around declining enrolments in the UK universities and declining numbers of people going into teaching,” said AMSI director Dr Geoff Prince. “She was extraordinarily successful and she talked about the measures taken in the UK.” An awareness campaign would highlight the role of mathematics in careers beyond science and include professional development for teachers. Chubb, who has been asked by the federal government to advise it on ways to boost the number of people studying science, spoke about the importance of stressing the wider applications of mathematics to students. He said the decline in the number of people studying it was a “national issue” that was “not insurmountable but [which] will take a lot of work”. “We’ve got to find a different way to bring together science and education skills to get an integrated approach,” he said. “Doing more of what we have been doing is not going to work. We have to do something with the existing workforce by improving professional development for teachers.” Maths and science skills had applications beyond the laboratory, and literacy in those areas was important to society, Chubb said. Teachers in primary and secondary schools were working hard but needed support at a national level. “An education in science and maths is a very valuable thing to have. You know how to analyse data, collect evidence and conduct experiments. In the workforce you are applying these analytical skills in a very integrated environment. “We need to do something about science literacy in this country. What passes for science debate in this country is unacceptable,” said Chubb. “There is a national interest embedded in all of this. The national interest is so important that we need to elevate the profile of science, engineering and maths so that people in this country can understand that these are critical areas for our future.” Also in attendance last week were representatives of accounting firm KPMG, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the CSIRO, along with Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research Chris Evans, shadow minister for innovation, industry and science Sophie Mirabella, and Nobel physics laureate Professor Brian Schmidt from ANU. “We had those people there talking about what the strategic importance of maths and science was in their domain and then also talk about what they thought we needed to do in order to guarantee a supply of those individuals that they need,” said Prince. “We had a really wide spectrum of views from a lot of high level people.” AMSI had produced a profile of the discipline of mathematical sciences in Australia ahead of the forum and sent it to all the speakers. Among the issues it highlights is the national shortage of qualified mathematics teachers and the declining number of year 12 students enrolled in calculus-based mathematics subjects over the last 15 years. Only 68 per cent of year 11 and 12 maths teachers have studied the subject for three or more years at a tertiary level, while at universities themselves the number of teaching and academic staff are declining, with some universities no longer offering three-year degrees majoring in mathematics or statistics. Classes are often taught by non-specialists from disciplines such as engineering and economics. “I was very pleased that the profile was influential in the politicians’ speeches – so they’ve obviously read it is as part of their brief,” said Prince. “There was also a list of policy and action initiatives that we wanted to get in front of everybody.” The two key policy initiatives – the appointment of national mathematics adviser and a five-year national awareness campaign for maths and statistics targeted at both the school and higher education sectors – will now be released as a communique that Prince hopes will be embraced by policy makers. “It was a very wide-ranging forum, it was very exciting to get all these people with different views,” said Prince. “It was great to hear Brian Schmidt speak, he was absolutely on the money as far as maths is concerned. He explained it was the every-day work of astronomers and talked about the importance of education in maths for Australian children, and that it was essentially a human right to be given a good education in maths at school.” Read our A Lack of Chemistry feature