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NSW unveils strategy to get every student into HSC maths
It’s the question just about every maths teacher will hear multiple times a year – ‘Will we even use this in real life?’ – but a new course might help nip it in the bud.
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This seems a very paltry response to a very serious issue. It is important that we equip everyone with the life skills bestowed by Mathematics, and the new course may offer this for those students who are, for whatever reason, unable to pursue Mathematics via the current suite of subjects. However, without constraints the new course will further exasipate the the problem of students opting for an “easier option” rather than expand their horizons by selecting the highest level of Mathematics they are capable of. We need policy and incentives designed to encourage the uptake of high (so called, advanced) level Mathematics – this is where effort and resources need to placed if we are to avoid the looming, crippling shortage of STEM enabled contributors to our society.
And, what value are “up to” 320 $50K scholarships for Masters degrees; degrees in what, for what purpose, and what will be their contribution.
The only positive is the foreshadowed recruitment of 100 new specialist maths teacher for primary schools. BUT, 100 over five years for 2,071 schools!