ACT urged to make maths compulsory for Year 11 and 12 students

Canberra year 12 students Emma and Taylor both dropped maths after year 11.

"I got tired of it," Taylor said.

But he said he would not have been "opposed" to studying maths for a further year, had it been mandatory.

"I don't think I would have been hard-pressed if they said that it was necessary."

Emma agreed, saying she would have been "fine with it" had she had no option.

A recent review commissioned by the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies is now urging the ACT government to make maths a compulsory subject for students in years 11 and 12, arguing it will lead to better long-term outcomes.

The recommendation by the Mathematics Advisory Committee was made based on data showing maths is linked to higher employment rates and increased earnings over the average lifetime.

Data from 2022 showed 43 per cent of ACT students performed below the National Proficient Standard in mathematical literacy and reasoning, a discussion paper published by the committee said.

It also found that nationally, between 27 per cent and 35 per cent of students lacked "proficiency in key areas such as problem-solving, digital literacy and financial literacy".

Subject choice can reinforce 'social inequalities'

The committee said in its report that the ACT's "individualised" senior secondary system could be reinforcing social inequality by allowing students in college to drop maths.

"Student subject choice is not simply a matter of individual preference. It is influenced by social background, gender, school culture and resourcing, and teacher attitudes," the committee said.

The committee said this freedom to select courses that aligned more with students' personal interests posed "both opportunity and risk".

"For example, not choosing mathematics may make access to pathways in many areas, including commerce, sciences and health less accessible," the paper said.

The committee said this included adverse impacts for female students, who were under-represented in subjects such as science and maths despite outnumbering males in higher education.

The paper's authors said research showed this contributed to wage inequalities between males and females in the labour market, while also leading to a shortage of workers with "math-related skills" while demand for that expertise was growing.

The committee concluded that if mathematics were made a requirement, any social pressure not to engage with it would be countered.

Maths 'equips students with essential skills', committee says

The committee said the skills most in demand globally were underpinned by an understanding of maths, namely "creative and analytical thinking, technological literacy, and lifelong learning".

"Indeed, mathematical literacy is essential for interpreting data and making informed decisions, both in personal finance and broader societal contexts,"

"This capacity is relevant to personal lives, citizenship and careers.

They also argued that a level of proficiency with maths better enabled people to identify misleading statistics and data, referencing recent research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In that 2024 paper, the researchers said being able to detect disinformation "involves building media, digital, and information literacy to help ensure the public can participate in the information environment with a discerning view and critical approach".

University of Canberra economics lecturer John Hawkins said it would be beneficial if maths was taught to more students and for longer.

"It's important in today's society to be financially literate, and that requires at least a degree of maths competency too,"

"It's probably useful even if you're not going on to higher education to have a bit more maths.

He also supported the idea that maths was linked to broader issues including social equality and the ability to more critically take in information.

"I think if you're going to be a responsible citizen making an informed vote, then you need to be able to critique statements that involve mathematical concepts like probabilities and proportions and so on,"

Tim Marchant, the director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI), said maths was as important as English.

"English is compulsory everywhere; that's an incredibly important part of our lives,"

And he said while the uptake of maths in college was high, some students could be left behind.

"But I think the principle is that all kids should be doing maths, so that it's important for that other 10 per cent to do maths as well."

Mr Marchant agreed with the committee that maths was more vital than ever.

"If you ask AI, 'why does maths matter?' You'll get an answer that maths is the engine driving modern progress in technology such as AI, data science, finance, and cybersecurity,"

"So it's really incredible, it's incredibly important for our new, tech-based economy."

'Mathematical anxiety'

The report's authors also said that anxiety about mathematical ability needed intervention and played a critical role in academic outcomes.

They said meta-analysis conducted between 1972 and 2018 showed a "consistent negative association between mathematics anxiety and achievement".

Dr Hawkins said he had observed this among his students.

"There are a lot of students who are sort of basically scared of it, to the extent that they'll try to avoid subjects where they think there's maths involved,"

"So they're putting themselves at a disadvantage by ruling themselves out of, in some cases, units that would be useful to them for their careers."

The discussion paper said this anxiety could be addressed using "emotion-regulation techniques and strategies designed to help identify, challenge and change the negative beliefs and thinking that individuals hold about their mathematical ability".

The committee also said that young people could not know what they would need in 10 or more years for their careers or lives, and said they were in danger of being excluded from an "emerging swathe of the economy".

"The alternative is, in the middle of busy adult life, having to take bridging or remedial courses, or simply be excluded from an emerging swathe of the economy."

With the end of college approaching, Emma said she was now a little worried about her choice to not continue with maths.

"It probably would have been useful to keep doing it,"

"For honestly any job, it's probably useful to have as much knowledge of maths as you can."

Taylor said it depended on his chosen career path but that a baseline of knowledge was important.