It might sound like their worst nightmare for many teenagers, but Michael Grove has just announced that students who do not achieve a good GCSE pass in maths will be forced into continuing to study the subject until they do, or at least until they are 18. A good GCSE pass is considered to be Grade C and last summer 45% of 16 year olds failed to reach this standard. Also the CBI have stated that more than one third of businesses are unhappy at the level of numeracy shown by college leavers.
Following a review by Alison Wolf the government intends to bring in this change from 2015, so it will directly effect those children who at present are in the Upper Primary stage. Could the thought of an extra two years studying maths prove to be an incentive to study harder now? Possibly, but children’s long term planning has generally always been poor and I am not sure I would like to be the teacher taking the maths for the extra two years!