In contemporary education, mathematics education—known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics—is the practice of teaching, learning, and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge.
Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education. Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and state-funded schools at a local level. State-funded schools may be selective grammar schools or non-selective comprehensive schools. All state schools are subject to assessment and inspection by the government department Ofsted. England also has private schools and home education; legally, parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.
The education system in Northern Ireland differs from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the national school system and serving a similar society with a relatively rural population. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education in the region, whereas the relevant date in England and Wales is 1 September.
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria, usually academic performance. The term is commonly used in relation to England and Wales, where comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965.
The National Curriculum for England was first introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988. At the time of its introduction the legislation applied to both England and Wales. However, education later became a devolved matter for the Welsh government. The National Curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject.
The National Curriculum assessment usually refers to the statutory assessments carried out in primary schools in England, colloquially known as standard assessment tasks (SATs). The assessments are made up of a combination of testing and teacher assessment judgements and are used in all government-funded primary schools in England to assess the attainment of pupils against the programmes of study of the National Curriculum at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 where all pupils are aged 6, 7, 10 and 11 respectively. Until 2008, assessments were also required at the end of Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds) in secondary schools after which they were scrapped.
The Key Skills Qualification is a frequently required component of 14-20 education in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The aim of Key Skills is to encourage learners to develop and demonstrate their skills as well as learn how to select and apply skills in ways that are appropriate to their particular context.
Key Stage 3 is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the term also refers to the first three years of secondary education.
Primary education in Wales has a similar structure to primary education in England, but teaching of the Welsh language is compulsory and it is used as the medium of instruction in many schools. The introduction of the Foundation Phase for 3- to 7-year-olds is also creating increasing divergence between Wales and England.
Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years.
Key Stage 1 is the legal term for the two years of schooling in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 1 and Year 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7. This Key Stage normally covers pupils during infant school, although in some cases this might form part of a first or primary school. It is also the label used for the third and fourth years of primary education in Northern Ireland. In Hong Kong, it is used to describe Primary One to Primary Three.
The Primary National Strategy document was launched in the UK in May 2003 by Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education. The then-existing National Numeracy Strategy and National Literacy Strategy were taken under the umbrella of the Primary National Strategy.
The Cambridge Primary Review (CPR), following a lengthy period of consultation and planning, was launched in October 2006 as a fully independent enquiry into the condition and future of primary education in England. The Review, directed by Professor Robin Alexander, has been supported since its inception by grants from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The scope of the Review and the depth of its evidence have made it the most comprehensive enquiry into English primary education since the Plowden Report of 1967. Between October 2007 and February 2009 the Review published 31 interim reports, including 28 surveys of published research, 39 briefings, 14 media releases and several newspaper articles. The Review's 608-page final report Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review was published on 16 October 2009, together with an 850-page companion volume, The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys. Both books are published by Routledge.
More Maths Grads was a three-year project run from 2007 to 2010 by a consortium of British mathematics organisations which aimed to increase the supply of mathematical sciences graduates in England and to widen participation within the mathematical sciences from groups of learners who have not previously been well represented in higher education.
The Department for Education (DfE) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England.
The NCEA Duke's Secondary School is an 11–19 academy in Ashington, Northumberland, England. It is part of the Northumberland Church of England Trust occupying the Josephine Butler Campus of its predecessor, The Northumberland Church of England Academy, which was an all-through school spread out across six campuses in southeastern Northumberland.
A comprehensive school, or simply a comprehensive, typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria, usually academic performance. In England and Wales comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965. They may be part of a local education authority or be a self governing academy or part of a multi-academy trust.
The National Curriculum of Northern Ireland identifies the minimum requirements of skills for each subject and the activities to develop and applied the skills.
Mathematics education in the United Kingdom is largely carried out at ages 5–16 at primary school and secondary school. However voluntary Mathematics education in the UK takes place from 16 to 18, in sixth forms and other forms of further education. Whilst adults can study the subject at universities and higher education more widely. Mathematics education is not taught uniformly as exams and the syllabus vary across the countries of the United Kingdom, notably Scotland.
The Curriculum for Wales is the curriculum which is being introduced in state-funded education in Wales for pupils aged three to sixteen years. The curriculum's rollout began in 2022. As of September 2023, it is statutorily required for all pupils apart from those in school years 9, 10 and 11. The curriculum has been developed based on a report commissioned in 2014. Amongst other changes, it gives schools greater autonomy over what they teach children. Views on the curriculum have been varied.
