Australia’s Chief Scientist Ian Chubb has expressed serious concern at the dwindling rate of high-school students undertaking intermediate and advanced mathematics.
Speaking at a national forum of academics at the University of Sydney, Professor Chubb implored the audience to take action. “It’s time for us to stop talking about some of this stuff and actually do something about it.”
He also expressed concern over the lack of mathematic and scientific literacy within Australia, particularly in regards to the future of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employment and innovation.
“The pool of students leaving year 12 with the top levels of maths is inadequate to provide for the growing pool of students taking STEM and health, agriculture, economics, education and so on,” he said.
Students who do not undertake advanced mathematics in high school are generally susceptible to higher fail rates and decreased marks throughout their first year of university.
Many attribute the flailing rates to the removal of university pre-requitsies and the desire to achieve a higher ATAR score.
Photo credit: Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty
Professor Chubb’s speech mirrors claims made in the previous year at AMSI’s Maths of Planet Earth Conference.
This story was originally reported by Amy McNeilage for The Sydney Morning Herald. To read more, click here
