Maths, as one of the hardest and most rational of all subjects, is considered particularly difficult by students, so they naturally avoid it, given a choice. This leaves the professionals who teach the subject with a problem, under our system of education. They must increase the uptake.
Looking back, the version of A-level maths introduced as part of Curriculum 2000 can safely be described as disastrous, though some may choose to use a stronger adjective.
In the summer of 2001, when the first AS results were published, nearly a third of students failed. The impact of this was for students to drop maths and take an alternative subject where they felt they could be more successful.
Schools and colleges reported dropout rates of up to 50% after the 2001 AS results, and by 2002 the number of students gaining A-level maths was at its lowest level in recent years.
Not only this, but word went out to younger students that mathematics was probably the hardest A-level to take, which has, in turn, impacted on the uptake of the subject.
As the subject was difficult, students dropped out, uptake fell and teachers scratched their heads. Could they improve their teaching? Perhaps this indicated that maths teaching at GCSE needed to be improved? Or, perhaps they could reform the exams to improve the failure rate and increase uptake? Guess what they did...
Efforts by the examination boards after the summer of 2001 helped to produce examination papers that were more accessible, but the basic problems of an overcrowded syllabus and not enough teaching time persisted.
Changes to the A-level were needed to restore take-up to an acceptable level....
This in itself may not be too much of an issue. What is more controversial is that the current structure allows students to take four of the easier AS units, rather than the normal three, towards the total six units that make up the A-level.
It is then the case that some students are able to gain A-level mathematics with only two of the harder A2 units, unlike all other subjects where three A2 units are required. Some students do still take options that require three A2 units.
They made mathematics easier than other subjects and academics like Ted Graham are now advocating the Adcvanced Extension Award or further maths A-level for those students who may find themselves less stretched by the easier maths A-level. Another example of dumbed down Britain.