PM concedes UK needs more teachers after criticising ‘anti-maths mindset’
Rishi Sunak has conceded the country will need more teachers to deliver on his ambition to get more pupils to study maths until they are 18.
The prime minister made the admission at the launch of his key policy, which he originally announced in January.
Under the plans, a new review will be launched into how maths can be taught to make sure all pupils in England study some part of the subject, without the need to make it compulsory.
An advisory group made up of mathematicians, education leaders and business representatives will be set up to assist the government.
It comes just a week before teachers are set to stage their next strike on 27 April and 2 May in the ongoing dispute with the government over pay and working conditions.
There has been some support for Mr Sunak’s announcement across the education sector, but critics have warned that in order to deliver on the policy there needs to be more specialist teachers and more funding.
Rishi Sunak’s maths plan ‘yet more flannel’, says Labour – politics latest
Mr Sunak pointed to existing support for science, technology, engineering and maths [STEM] graduates – such as tax-free bursaries for teacher training – but admitted: “We need already, and we will need more maths teachers.”
In his speech, Mr Sunak criticised the “cultural sense that it’s okay to be bad at maths” – explaining that it puts children “at a disadvantage” for failing to equip them with skills needed in a workplace.
“We’ve got to change this anti-maths mindset. We’ve got to start prizing numeracy for what it is – a key skill every bit as essential as reading,” Mr Sunak told the room of business leaders, students and teachers.
“I won’t sit back and allow this cultural sense that it’s okay to be bad at maths to put our children at a disadvantage.
“My campaign to transform our national approach to maths is not some nice-to-have. It’s about changing how we value maths in this country.”
He added: “We simply cannot allow poor numeracy to cost our economy tens of billions a year or to leave people twice as likely to be unemployed as those with competent numeracy.
“We have to fundamentally change our education system, so it gives our young people the knowledge and skills they need – and that our businesses need – to compete with the best in the world.”
It has also emerged that the government held a review into post-16 mathematics six years ago which came up with a number of recommendations that have not been acted on.
The author of the review, Sir Adrian Smith, was asked to look at the possibility of encouraging students to study maths until the age of 18 but rejected the idea due to concerns about the lack of resources in the education system.
Rishi Sunak is clearly passionate about his cause, but critics question his priorities
Rishi Sunak’s speech on maths lasted all of 8 minutes and 33 seconds.
To continue the topic of the day; that’s 513 seconds or around 14% of an hour.
So this wasn’t a substantial intervention. And the content wasn’t terribly new either.
That said, the prime minister is clearly passionate about the cause, giving detailed and in-depth answers when questioned by journalists.
The specifics of his pledges around mandatory maths are decidedly woolly though. As it stands, this all seems to fall more into the “aspiration” policy box rather than anything more practical or immediate.
At a time when school strikes mean many pupils have days when they are taught nothing, some may question the wisdom of putting quite so much emphasis on a relatively niche announcement about the future curriculum.
The impact this will have on broader economic growth is also up for debate.
Yes, as we edge into an age shaped by artificial intelligence and automation, a knowledge of maths will be essential for many modern workers.
But MPs will point to planning, taxes and labour shortages as other more immediate factors holding back the economy.
It’s in those areas where Mr Sunak will really need to make sure his sums add up in the months ahead.
The UK is one of the least numerate countries among the 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) advanced economies, and is one of the few nations worldwide that does not require its students to learn maths up until they are 18.
Downing Street claims about a third of children fail to pass GCSE maths, and more than eight million adults have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine-year-old.
Asked by Sky News’ Beth Rigby why he wasn’t giving a commitment to tackle the issues in education and help students pass maths GCSE now, Mr Sunak replied: “We’re doing both.”
He said the government was starting at primary school level with a range of maths hubs, sharing best teaching practices across schools, as well as making curriculum changes.
“I made the point: we have made progress. We’ve moved up 10 points in the international rankings,” he said. “But we need to do more.
He denied suggestions that previous governments had “dropped the ball” on maths standards, saying: “Our track record on this stuff is great.”
However, he admitted that the changes wouldn’t happen “overnight” and that the government would wait until after July to announce how it will implement its “maths to 18” policy.
Ahead of Mr Sunak’s speech, Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Once again, the prime minister needs to show his working: he cannot deliver this reheated, empty pledge without more maths teachers.
“But after 13 years of failing our children, the Tory government repeatedly misses their target for new maths teachers, with maths attainment gaps widening and existing teachers leaving in their droves.
“Labour does not need a new advisory group to make the right choices for our children. We will drive up standards in every corner of our country by investing in thousands more teachers, including maths teachers, by ending tax breaks for private schools.”
Read more politics:
NHS ‘spends £1m a week on private ambulances for emergencies’
Labour attack ads on Rishi Sunak not a mistake and ‘more to come’
Analysis: Rishi Sunak may be emboldened but his strikes nightmare is far from over
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Bilat or bi-latte? Sunak meets Biden
Sam Sims, chief executive of the charity National Numeracy, said: “Addressing poor numeracy needs to start much earlier than 16. We need a cradle to career vision for numeracy in the UK.”
However, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Geoff Barton, said: “It seems like an attempt to divert attention away from the most pressing matter in education in England which is the industrial dispute triggered by the erosion of teacher pay and conditions and resulting crisis in recruiting and retaining enough staff.
Click to subscribe to the Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast
“These severe shortages directly undermine the prime minister’s ambition because it means there are not enough maths teachers to deliver even the existing requirements let alone extend maths to every pupil to the age of 18.”
The Liberal Democrats also criticised the announcement, arguing that it broke rules around purdah – the name used to describe the period immediately before elections or referendums when restrictions on communications are applied.
The party has written to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to report the alleged rule breach ahead of the local elections on 4 May.
A man has died after suffering cardiac arrest onboard a boat attempting to reach the UK.
The vessel turned back towards Equihen beach on the French coast yesterday morning.
A nurse tried to resuscitate the man but was unsuccessful.
Pic: PA
French authorities have now launched an investigation into the circumstances.
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, has criticised authorities on both sides of the Channel.
Jacob Burns said: “Yet again we have a tragedy in the Channel, that is the consequence of the deadly, costly and ineffective security policies implemented by the UK and France.”
Pic: PA
Later on Saturday, a lifeboat carried migrants who have made the voyage into the Port of Dover.
Photographs showed them huddled under blankets and orange life jackets on board.
Read more from Sky News:
Israel resumes airdrops into Gaza
11 stabbed at US supermarket
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Protesters clash over asylum hotels
Provisional statistics from the Home Office suggest almost 24,000 people have arrived on small boats in the UK so far this year.
Towns and cities across the UK have seen protests in recent days, primarily outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers.
Here the Lionesses are again. Another final. Another showdown with Spain.
All of a sudden, what was once so anticipated and longed for can start to seem expected rather than extraordinary.
What happened to the great underachievers of world football? They are now consistently among the final two going for glory.
At Euro 2022, the Lionesses ended England’s 56-year wait for a major trophy by beating Germany 2-1 after extra time. Pic: Reuters
No one is taking that for granted.
Especially not Leah Williamson, with the chance to retain the European Championship trophy lifted three years ago at Wembley.
“The opportunity of tomorrow and what’s on offer is the best thing in football,” the England captain said. “I think we don’t necessarily carry the weight of it and how much it means to people, but we’re aware of it because it means the same to us.”
So often they were only watching other nations making finals.
England’s first was the men winning the 1966 World Cup.
England v Spain: All you need to know
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lionesses ‘know what win would mean to nation’
Then, with the rebirth of women’s football after bans and neglect, it was the Lionesses’ turn to make it to the finals – in 1984 and 2009.
And the Three Lions had to wait until 2021 to make it to a final, losing to Italy on penalties at Wembley.
It kickstarted an incredible run of five successive years of finals for England senior teams – with another men’s Euros final defeat in 2024.
The Lionesses have led the way, bringing football home by defeating Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley.
They just missed out on going one better when reaching a first Women’s World Cup final a year later.
England manager Sarina Wiegman reacts to defeat against Spain at the Women’s World Cup final in 2023. Pic: Reuters
Lauren James looks dejected after their World Cup defeat, but is confirmed fit for Sunday’s revenge match against Spain. Pic: Reuters
Now, in Basel, comes the chance for revenge against Spain – even though no one in the England camp is saying that, publicly at least, in Switzerland.
Especially knowing how challenging a task it is coming up again against Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putella – the recent winners of football’s biggest individual honours.
England fans celebrating after England beat Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Given England’s history against Spain, it could be a nerve-wracking time for England fans. File pic: Action Images/Reuters
But this is Spain’s first Euros final.
And there is some fear from the world champions at England’s grit and resolve to produce comebacks late in the quarter-finals and semi-finals – with 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang’s goals integral to the fightbacks.
England celebrate their semi-final win against Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Michelle Agyemang has propelled England to the Euro 2025 final with two vital goals. Pic: AP
Spain captain Irene Paredes reflected yesterday on how the Lionesses can flip a result late on.
But she was also discussing how their World Cup win was tarnished by the on-pitch kiss that led to former Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales being convicted of a sexual assault on striker Jenni Hermoso.
It sparked a wider clamour in Spain for improved rights and respect for women.
Read more from Sky News:
Lionesses’ help grassroots football
Sarina Wiegman on the Euros final
Listen: Why Lucy Bronze is ‘golden girl’
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Spain’s players struggle for respect
“Since then [2023] we took big steps forward,” Paredes said.
“I think this idea is disappearing from society. I still believe we have to continue opening doors… we’re a reference for boys and girls in society, but we still have things to do.”
It is a reminder that while tonight is about collecting silverware, both England and Spain know that emerging as champions can drive further growth in women’s football back home.
Amid it all, they’ll try to savour just what reaching a final means and how rare they are – until recently for English and Spanish women.
A woman who thought she was being injected with Botox was left unable to swallow and doctors thought she had suffered a stroke – after she contracted a life-threatening illness from a potentially illegal product.
Nicola Fairley is one of dozens of people who have developed botulism linked to unlicensed anti-wrinkle injections.
She had the procedure done with her regular beautician after winning a Facebook competition for three areas of “Botox”.
Nicola Fairley
“Within two or three hours my forehead and the sides of my eyes had started to freeze,” Nicola says.
“At first I thought ‘amazing’, that’s what I wanted – then it just carried on.”
Nicola was eventually sent to A&E in Durham, where she met several other patients who all had similar symptoms.
Doctors were stumped. “They thought I’d had a stroke,” she says.
“We all had problems with our eyes, some of us with our breathing. I couldn’t swallow – they put me on nil by mouth because they were worried I would choke in the waiting room.”
Doctors were worried Nicola could choke after she was injected with a suspected illegal product
It turns out all of the patients had recently had anti-wrinkle injections containing botulinum toxin.
Health officials believe they were imported, illegal products.
Botulism – the disease they caused – is so rare many doctors never see it in their entire careers.
It can cause symptoms including slurred speech and breathing problems, and can be deadly.
The disease is so unusual, and so many cases were coming in, that doctors exhausted their stocks of anti-toxin and had to ask hospitals as far away as London to get more.
The UK Health Security Agency has so far confirmed 38 cases of botulism linked to cosmetic toxin injections, but Sky News has been told of several more.
The outbreak began in the North East but cases have now been seen in the East of England and East Midlands as well.
There are only a handful of legal botulinum toxin products in the UK – of which Botox is one.
But cosmetic treatments are largely unregulated, with anyone allowed to inject products like fillers and toxins without any medical training.
Cheap, illegal products imported from overseas are easily available.
Dr Steven Land
‘It’s the Wild West’
Dr Steven Land runs Novellus Aesthetics clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked for decades as an emergency medicine doctor before moving into aesthetics.
He says he has been warning health officials of an outbreak for years.
“It’s the Wild West,” Dr Land told Sky News.
“Because anyone can do this, there is a lack of knowledge around what is legal, what’s not legal, what is okay to be injected.
“These illegal toxins could have 50 units, 5,000 units or rat poison – there could be anything in there.”
Read more from Sky News:
Kelly Osbourne pays tribute to ‘best friend’ Ozzy
Scots divided as Trump flies in for visit
Dr Land showed us messages that he says he gets on a weekly basis, from sellers trying to push him cheap, unlicensed products.
They advertise “limited time offers” and cheap bundles on toxins imported from overseas. He calls them “drug dealers”.
“They are preying on the lack of knowledge among non-medical practitioners,” he says.
Consultations on how to regulate the aesthetics industry have been ongoing for years – but so far, no changes have been introduced.
The UK government now says it does plan to regulate certain procedures, but it’s not said how it will do this, or when.
“What will it take?” Nicola says. “One of the women we were with did almost die – she had to be resuscitated.”
Nicola’s beautician has stopped responding to her messages, so she says she still has no idea what the product was “or how much of it is in me”.
She doesn’t know how long her symptoms will last, but just hopes she will eventually recover.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike