Towards Universal Participation in Post-16 Mathematics: Lessons from High-performing Countries

This study, from the Nuffield Foundation, is a follow-up to the report 'Is the UK an outlier?', which examined mathematics education provision in 24 different countries and revealed that England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the lowest levels of participation in upper secondary mathematics. They were the only countries in which fewer than 20% of students studied mathematics at upper secondary level. Scotland had a higher participation rate than elsewhere in the UK, but this was still below average.

This study aims to build on the participation data in the previous study by looking in more detail at a smaller number of countries to identify the factors related to high levels of participation in Post-16 mathematics and their implications for the United Kingdom. These countries are England, Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate), Hong Kong, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore and the United States (Massachusetts).

The study is based on two research questions:

1. What factors drive participation in upper secondary mathematics?

2. What is the content and level of upper secondary mathematics provision and how does it vary across different general and vocational routes?

The report has 16 recommendations and the experience of Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore indicates that the strongest incentive for students to study advanced mathematics is that they are required to do so to progress to higher education and employment.