Make kids study maths until age 18 - The Sun

PUPILS should be made to study maths until they leave school at 18, Carol Vorderman says today.

The Tory party asked the ex-Countdown star to review maths teaching standards in England. And her report, out today, seeks "major alterations" to how the subject is handled.

She says 22 per cent of pupils aged 16-19 are "functionally innumerate", with no basic grasp of maths and arithmetic.

Carol also brands it unacceptable that just 15 per cent of pupils take maths after their GCSEs at 16.

By 2015, pupils must stay in full-time education until they are 18. Carol says maths studies should be compulsory to that age, like in most major nations. Her report says: "Employers complain at the low level of new employees' mathematical competence and now many hold numeracy courses."

She says the "failed system" that lets students give up all maths at 16 "is against common practice in most industrialised nations and there is an urgent need for change".

Her report says kids should learn personal finance to stop them falling into debt when they are older. She adds: "Without major alterations in maths education quickly, we risk our future prosperity."

Carol insists: "It does not mean making maths harder. It means making the teaching better and the subject matter more suitable."

Ministers are reviewing the national curriculum. Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "This report will help."

k.schofield@the-sun.co.uk