Maths teachers gain new status

A new professional standard is set to lend the teaching of mathematics the same respectability as that of ‘recognised’ professions

Have the skills of our maths teachers finally been recognised for what they are – or need to be? Leading maths teaching associations seem to think so in a bold move to raise the profile and popularity of a profession that has attracted some of the brightest but often unsung teachers.

Recognition is now at hand. Take Andrew Davies, who has taught maths for 20 years. A former engineer, he now works as a further education maths lecturer at Castle college, Nottinghamshire, where he also develops new courses for non-maths specialists. His credentials as both a mathematician and teacher are strong and yet he, along with a number of his peers, recently became one of the first cohort of teachers to apply for a new designation, granted under Royal Charter, that recognises his professional skills in the same way as those of an accountant, surveyor, or his own profession of engineer.

Continue to read on The Guardian