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The Forum > Article Comments > The crisis in maths in Australia > Comments

The crisis in maths in Australia : Comments

By J Hyam Rubinstein, published 16/5/2006

The science of mathematics is facing a major skills shortage.

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The other problem in attracting good mathematicians to the noble vocation of teaching is that it's too easy to earn a good living in another field. My son is a first year out Engineer, and he earns almost as much as me in my 35 th year of teaching. He would be a brilliant teacher, but he just wouldn't consider it because of the low pay, and the terrible system that is being foisted on teachers in Western Australia. Both of my twins were considering doing teaching and Maths was one of their strongest subjects in Year 12 last year, but the more they saw how silly the system their dad was in, the less inclined they were to follow that pathway. Now they are happily enrolled in the medical faculty at university.

If we want good mathematicians to embark on a teaching career, we need to provide them with incomes to match what they can get elsewhere, and provide them with a curriculum that will provide the students with appropriate challenges while at school, and all the skills and processes they need to succeed in further study.
Posted by Surftilidie, Wednesday, 17 May 2006 10:41:07 PM
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Why would smart people want to teach in an ill disciplined system that doesn't appreciate them?

I see a major cause of Maths illiteracy eminating from our Primary schools where the basic concepts are not taught and many children end up hating what they cannot grasp.

Maths is a language in itself and we are not using a repetition of key words to convey important concepts.With children we need to work from the concrete to the abstract.Mostly we confound children with abstractions and expect them to assimilate them into their concrete world.There are many very intelligent people who detest Maths with good reason.

We should be building on concepts and not rely on the interaction of meaningless symbols with equally meaningless rules.
Posted by Arjay, Friday, 19 May 2006 12:47:10 AM
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I think this is an interesting point on the younger generation. They do have a problem of a low concentration span, an expectation of instant results, like they expect with computers.

I have taught in a dozen schools as a casual mobile teacher in NSW, and I admit, I have had to teach mathematics in emergency "out of field" in this current shortage crisis. I have also taught in about 4 schools in Queensland, one in far north Queensland.

I must say that one school community there was absolutely breath-taking in how they used a "partnership model" involving the whole community, to help the teachers and students. I have never seen this in NSW.

This model is absolutely magnificent, and I think to some degree, private schools already use volunteers from their churches in a similar way.

Now I think we could embrace a partership model as a standard, in state school mathematics and literacy learning. How?

We have an abundance of intelligent retired people who could be more than happy to help out, but have never been asked. They might just sit next to one or two kids and point the pencil back to the book, even if they say over and over: "stay on task", "we can work this out", "It is OK, we can ask the teacher", or "maybe we can try doing it this way" and to those interupting: "you stay on task too"....and so on. We underestimate our retired population. We need help in mathematics and literacy. Retired intelligent people are an absolute gold mine, to be treasured and welcomed into schools to help out. And I think they would really enjoy a rewarding contribution to the future. Especially the aunties and grandmas and grand dads in the Aboriginal communities, and those from various community groups.
Posted by saintfletcher, Friday, 19 May 2006 2:41:04 AM
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Just a thought for our Professor Rubenstein,why not spice up the subject of Maths with that of others areas of logic.Maths in essence is the language of logic and these skills permeate our entire lives beyond the world of numbers and algebra.

We use logic to solve all manner of problems in our lives.Maths would become far more sexy in our schools if it is intergrated more into our daily lives.Mostly it is avoided by Teachers at an elementary level because they have failed to grasp the basic concepts themselves.
Posted by Arjay, Saturday, 20 May 2006 8:09:34 PM
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Arjay

You ever watch the TV series "Numbers" - it is an example of using maths to solve real life problems. Also a fan of Mythbusters.

I agree that maths needs 'sexing up' for the average student. Where to find the inspirational teachers? Wages are crap, not everyone can end up as principal so the career path is limited. Teachers are the scapegoat for everyone with an issue about education. Finally, the costs of obtaining a teaching degree is out of reach for many.
Posted by Scout, Sunday, 21 May 2006 10:08:37 AM
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