Maths to become a compulsory subject for Year 11 and 12 students in NSW? How was it not already?
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The NSW Liberal government is embarking on consultation over the "biggest shakeup to the NSW curriculum in over 30 years".
Now I could get pedantic about that and say it should read "more than 30 years", but it's only talking about our state's education standards ...
The proposal is to make maths compulsory for Year 11 and 12 students under a plan to ensure school graduates have key numeracy skills, but the government stopped short of making it a mandatory subject for the HSC.
I recall my high school years when the eight of us studying an extra unit of HSC mathematics were in class while the rest of the year took sport, as I guess you needed to be fit or number-smart but not both?
Like the common refrain, I don't recall too many times while out in the real world when I've been asked to work out the length of a triangle's hypotenuse given the opposite angle and length of an adjoining side.
However, numbers are everywhere and increasing students' understanding of mathematical method, problem solving and, yes, even the Pythagoras theorem, is surely a no-brainer for the jobs of tomorrow - and today for that matter.
Game design and software programming, construction and manufacturing, business, retail, even journalism, all require a solid grounding in maths.
Not everyone has an aptitude for numeracy - just as some of us have little aptitude for sport. But making sure it sits alongside literacy as compulsory elements to education right through to Year 12 would surely give our leaders of tomorrow the confidence to tackle nearly any problems they are likely to face.
And it's not all about high-end mathematics. It's being reported the NSW Education Standards Authority is piloting a numeracy course for Years 11 and 12 that focuses on skills involved in budgeting, shopping and account keeping.
"Maths is a companion for life. We want to make sure the new curriculum provides a level of maths concepts that will help every NSW student succeed in life after school," Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.
The next trick for the government will be to find enough suitably qualified and keen teachers to turn this promise into reality.