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Maths GCSE's

TheCatWoman

More people have passed thier GCSE's this year than last, well done them. But I was anazed at how many students are doing resits, maybe three or more times and still not passing the required grade. Apparently the more times you try the less likely you are to pass, this says to me that theres something wrong with the way these students are being taught, or they have an undiagnosed learning difficulty? I couldn't pass a GCSE at grade C which was the pass mark then I think they've changed from 1 -5 or something now.

How we all at maths?

How do you think it could be taught differently or better?

Are to many children not being picked up with learning difficulties and do we expect maths to be difficult and allow some children to fail? It seems that difficulties with reading and writing are picked up quite young, why not with maths?

Parents

  • I think that maths, like foreign languages and music, tends to be taught by people to whom it comes naturally. Maths teachers, therefore, tend to teach in a way that works for students who also have an interest and natural ability in maths, but not in a way that suits those with little interest or ability (probably the majority). Maths teaching often fails such people. It failed me. I find no beauty in numbers, solving problems for their own sake is not particularly rewarding to me. What I really needed was to be taught why a certain mathematical process was useful in the real world, as its abstract nature was not of any interest to me.

    I scraped an O-level pass, but went on to do physics A-level (and 3 others) where the maths content had some real-world relevance. I later went on to be a molecular biologist working in research, any maths that I needed for my work I taught myself, with the impetus of it being directly relevant.

  • in reply to Martin

    I completely agree. I view maths as a tool to resolve real world questions. I feel no joy or sense of achievement in knowing the roots of an equation.

    Although not GCSE: I didn't see the point of Fourier transforms, but then 20 years later it made sense when I realised it is necessary for signal processing and is kind of how your ear works.

    Laplace transforms were also a bit of a mystery but I believe they are useful in electrical circuit analysis.

    Similarly a lot of the matrix stuff was confusing as I struggled to relate it to the real world. I've always need to have a mental visual picture of what is happening.

    I don't know the best way to teach at GCSE level. There are basics you just have to somehow learn.

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  • in reply to Martin

    I completely agree. I view maths as a tool to resolve real world questions. I feel no joy or sense of achievement in knowing the roots of an equation.

    Although not GCSE: I didn't see the point of Fourier transforms, but then 20 years later it made sense when I realised it is necessary for signal processing and is kind of how your ear works.

    Laplace transforms were also a bit of a mystery but I believe they are useful in electrical circuit analysis.

    Similarly a lot of the matrix stuff was confusing as I struggled to relate it to the real world. I've always need to have a mental visual picture of what is happening.

    I don't know the best way to teach at GCSE level. There are basics you just have to somehow learn.

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