Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor raises alarm over Sunak’s plan to expand maths in schools

The University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, has criticised the Government’s plans to make maths compulsory in schools until age 18.

Professor Irene Tracey, in her inaugural speech as Vice Chancellor, publicly replied to the government’s new policy. She denounced the neglecting of the humanities in favour of scientific subjects.

Professor Tracey said: “In this country, we de-skill our schoolchildren too early with the great divide at 16 between science and humanities.

“In an increasingly data-driven world, all our students need competence and above all confidence in dealing with data, but the same goes for scientists dropping humanities too early.

“While too many of our humanities students can be bewildered by a simple graph, too many of our scientists are bewildered by clever rhetoric, or simply unaware of the historical context of decisions.

“So, Mr Sunak, the next generation needs to understand maths, but it also needs to understand itself.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted on the importance of numeracy skills and has raised concerns over the limited mathematical skills among the working population.

Sunak said he wanted the country to “reimagine its approach to numeracy.”

He also added that just under 50% of 16-19-year-olds study maths in some form.