Mathematics education in the United Kingdom

Mathematics education in the United Kingdom is largely carried out at ages 11–16 at secondary school. However most advanced Mathematics education in the UK takes place from 16-18, mostly in the sixth form. Mathematics education is not taught uniformly as exams and the syllabus vary across nation states, notably Scotland.

The School Certificate was established in 1918, for education up to 16, with the Higher School Certificate for education up to 18; these were both established by the Secondary Schools Examinations Council (SSEC), which had been established in 1917.

The Joint Mathematical Council was formed in 1963 to improve the teaching of mathematics in UK schools. The Ministry of Education had been created in 1944, which became the Department of Education and Science in 1964. The Schools Council was formed in 1964, which regulated the syllabus of exams in the UK, and existed until 1984.

Before calculators, many calculations would be done by hand with slide rules and log tables.

Decimal Day, on 15 February 1971, allowed less time on numerical calculations at school. The Metric system has curtailed lengthy calculations as well; the USA, conversely, largely does not have the metric system.

Electronic calculators began to be owned at school from the early 1980s, becoming widespread from the mid-1980s. Parents and teachers believed that calculators would diminish abilities of mental arithmetic. Scientific calculators came to the aid for those working out logarithms and trigonometric functionss.

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