Good quality education fuels an economy. South Africa needs to increase its supply of science and technology university graduates. But instead it’s lowering the bar, especially when it comes to maths.
Up until the seventeenth century, astrology was seen as a scholarly tradition, and it is credited as influencing the development of many modern day subjects.
Maths occupies an eminent place in global schooling assessment criteria not just because of its content, but for the skills that are taught and developed alongside it.
Politicians need to stop meddling with education policy and invest in teachers if Australia’s science, mathematics and reading standards are to improve.
Rather than leaping to conclusions about a failing education system, we need to look at what the data tells us about student performance at a state level to help us make more informed decisions.
The quality of what pupils come to know, understand and are able to do has a big impact on students. Low quality leads to boredom as well as fear and anxiety about maths as a subject
Some have suggested that deracialising the academy requires all researchers, teachers and students to link knowledge and identity. What might this mean for mathematics?
There’s no Nobel Prize in mathematics, but math undergirds much high-level science. The 2016 Nobel in Physics rewards work in topology, a branch of math with multiple real world applications.