E-learning news: Children should not become 'maths failures'

Advocates of online training programs might see a way of solving the issue of low post-GCSE maths study, as an education union urges the government not to allow a generation to become "mathematical failures".

Following a Conservative Party report while they were in opposition that claimed only 15 per cent of pupils continued maths following their GCSEs, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) union has suggested that the government should radically reform key areas of the education system.

The ATL's head of education policy Nansi Ellis claimed that the report's comments on ending key stage 2 Sats were "spot on", arguing that the child should never be regarded as part of a "bureaucratic system of accountability".

Ms Ellis added: "If the government truly trusts teachers it will not attempt to impose a year-by-year breakdown of the subject," suggesting more flexibility in the provision of maths teaching is needed.

The rising prevalence of online learning and computer-based, adaptive examinations within the British education system has already been demonstrated with the news that AQA plans to roll out an electronic GCSE qualification after a successful trial with students studying French.

11 August 2011