“We'd always been told our son was 'about average' in maths. We thought that meant we didn't have to worry. Then the school told us he'd not be able to do the National 5 Maths exam because he wouldn't pass it.

We were left wondering what went wrong.”

Failing Maths is about average.

In Scotland, 60% leave school without National 5 Maths¹. In England, about half of students get a grade 4(C equivalent) or above at GCSE², though the grade boundaries are moved each year.

A student who is about average could well be on track to leave school without National 5 Mathematics.

This is not a problem for the school. It's actually expected. Half their students will be above average, and half will be below average. That's what average means.

In a globally competitive world, it's a potential problem for a lot of kids though. Maths matters.

Might it be because the exams are tougher in Scotland? According to the PISA survey of international education systems, that doesn't appear to be the case. The quality of maths and science education are declining in Scotland. While on the subject of PISA rankings the UK's gender gap (ie how much boys lag girls) on PISA is 11 points. The OECD average is 5 pts. There is no physiological reason that the gap can't be 0.

It doesn't have to be this way. The time to change it is as soon as possible - not the year before they sit the exam. Let's start now.

Sources: