Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Programme for International Student Assessment global ranking in Mathematics from 2019 showing British teenagers in 18th place, what plans, if any, they have to support students to reach the top ten

The department has not set specific targets for mathematics rankings in international comparison studies. However, we are taking action to help our pupils excel in mathematics on the international stage.

For example, our previous reform of the mathematics curriculum and GCSE examinations in England sought to match the standards set by high performing East Asian jurisdictions. Building on this work, our network of 40 school-led Maths Hubs across England is also helping local schools improve the quality of their mathematics teaching. This includes the delivery of the £100 million Teaching for Mastery programme, which is bringing teaching practice from those same high performing jurisdictions to 11,000 primary and secondary schools across England by 2023.

In July the department announced a new multi-million pound scheme to support mathematics catch-up and boost numeracy skills for pupils starting primary and secondary school. This offer will be led by the National Centre for Excellence in the teaching of mathematics in partnership with Maths Hubs. The scheme will provide teacher training and materials to thousands of schools across England this academic year based on Teaching for Mastery approaches.

The UK performed significantly above the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development average in mathematics in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment tests in 2018, the results of which were reported in 2019, with a significant improvement in average score compared to 2015. England’s average mathematics score also significantly improved, accompanied by a decrease in the number of countries that scored significantly above England from 19 in 2015 to 12 in 2018.

Across the UK, Wales’s average mathematics score improved between 2012 and 2018. Average mathematics performance in Scotland remained stable between 2015 and 2018, but decreased compared to 2006, and has remained stable in Northern Ireland since 2006. Education policy is devolved, and the devolved administrations are responsible for standards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.