The Challenges faced by mathematics teachers of 11 - 16 year olds in the U.K. are making the work relevant and fun for the students whilst keeping up the demands of the National Curriculum and schemes of work.

A few years ago the swing had been towards use of the calculator, however due to the public perception of falling standards and a generation who seemed unable to do calculations in their head, there was a push from the Government to go back to more traditional methods. National Examinations changed from allowing a calculator to be used if wished to two separate examinations at ages 11, 14 and 16 - one where a calculator is allowed and one where a calculator is not allowed. The challenge here for teachers has been to teach different appropriate methods to answer questions n both papers. For example to calculate % of an amount like VAT 17.5% OF £25 First find 10% then 55 then 2.5% and add together. On a calculator it would be 17.5 /100 * 25.

To improve general numerical skills and in particular mental arithmetic the National Numeracy Strategy was introduced. In primary schools there is a Numeracy Hour every day when pupils are taught strategies to perform calculations with lots of oral work and pupil participation taking place. This is continued in Secondary Schools where every lesson begins with a mental starter activity for 5 - 10 minutes. The aim is to involve all pupils and to get them thinking mathematically with short tasks which do not have to be related to the main topic of the day.

A variety of aids are used for example :

• number fans
• a counting stick
• small white boards where pupils hold up their responses
• I.C.T.
• Flash cards
• Number lines

The National Framework gives suggestions of how to introduce topics in different ways to make lessons more appealing to the students and every lesson has its mental starter, the main topic and a plenary session at the end to reinforce the main points being studied.

Other challenges include

• Discipline issues
• Large class sizes
• Increased integration of pupils with special needs within mainstream education
• Shortage of mathematics teachers but incentives are being offered during training

Teaching assistants are often in the classroom to give support to pupils with special needs. Integrated Learning systems on the computer network have also been used with varying success. Lessons are presented in a variety of teaching styles such as

• traditional ways from the board at the front
• presentations from a laptop using power point and the internet.
• Self supported study
• Oral work
• Use of ICT

The Euro is not specifically mentioned in the National Curriculum for Mathematics, however it is appearing in newer textbooks in any problem involving money from other countries A problem involving conversion of £ to Euros came up in last summer's GCSE exam for 16 year olds. We of course now include conversion by proportionality and conversion graphs and quick rough methods.

Activities in other curriculum areas arise in :

• Modern Foreign Languages - in both written and aural and spoken work
• Geography
• Business Studies
• European Studies.

The introduction of the Euro to the U.K. is causing quite a political debate with both pro and anti Euro arguments. Some well known personalities like Bob Geldof are involved in an anti Euro, pro Europe advertising campaign, primarily seen in cinemas. Although not specifically covered in Citizenship at present I think it is quite important to present a fair balanced argument to pupils so they can form their own opinions. Surveys carried out indicate that Britains are less against the Euro after visiting countries where it is in use.

1. Attitudes - boys perceive maths as easy, girls perceive difficulty
2. Girls have lower expectations
3. Boys are connected thinkers and respond better to traditional teaching methods
4. Girls are more attentive and willing to learn
5. Boys can memorise abstract facts and rules
6. Girls do well in open ended tasks
7. Boys sacrifice understanding for speedy results
8. Girls want to understand in depth

Despite all these differences studies have shown that there is very little difference in attainment.

• At age 11 boys do better than girls at maths although the opposite is true in reading, writing and science
• At age 14 girls are slightly ahead of boys in mathematics
• At 16 performance is similar although girls do better in every other subject
• At 18 boys outperform girls by numbers purely because more continue to study maths. The individual girls who continue do achieve better grades than boys.. 50 of girls choose not to continue with a science or maths, as opposed to30% boys. At 18 they revert to gender stereotyping.

Expectation of teachers has a great bearing on achievement and teachers must encourage students and also challenge their own perceptions.

Grouping of students is important - girls prefer co-operative supportive working environments whereas boys do better in competitive pressurised environments. .Some schools are experimenting with single sex classes for teaching mathematics and English. Some schools seat boy / girl pairings.

Mathematics lessons are set on ability from an early age as a rule and almost always in secondary schools.

From the Standards agency (taken from the Scottish Office Site www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents-w/hmi-01.htm) I believe these conclusions are true for Britain as a whole.

Detailed analyses of data suggest that:

• boys tend to show greater variability in attainment, getting proportionately more very high or very low grades
• boys tend to perform better on recall and explanation tasks while girls are better at handling information, observing, inferring and investigating
• boys seem to perform better at multiple choice items and girls at coursework and essays
• girls do particularly well in language and communication and creative subjects and boys do consistently better in the performance element of physical education.

In mathematics, science and information and communications technology:

• boys have generally more positive, or sometimes more polarised, attitudes to mathematics and science
• in physics and technology, boys tend to have more confidence than girls in the use of physical concepts, as a result of which their designs are more likely to be judged as having 'innovation and rigour'
• in mathematics, boys have more confidence and are less dependent on teachers' explanations and devise their own methods and short-cuts to solutions
• more boys than girls see computing as enjoyable and necessary to their future prospects; in computing, girls often have lower expectations and less motivation.

Schools could usefully develop a policy on addressing gender issues supported by a school 'gender database' comprising the school information as outlined in section 2. Below is a list of suggested approaches to investigating and dealing with gender issues.

• Investigate how they respond to boys and girls in their teaching; this can involve peer observation or the use of video.
• Investigate who and what is praised; pupils like to feel they can do well and that their teacher cares.
• Encourage all pupils to take a more active part in lessons.
• Encourage all pupils to take more responsibility for their own learning and celebrate successes.
• Exploit pupils' competitiveness constructively as part of teaching and learning (to provide contexts, analogies to help effort, types of activity) and/or as part of a system of rewards and incentives to complete work well.
• Involve pupils in observation and discussion of their own behaviour to alert them to gender-related issues.

• Provide early and frequent feedback to pupils on their attainment.
• Consider the composition of groups; how often do boys and girls work in mixed pairs or groups? Are seating arrangements conducive to learning?
• Review teachers' expectations of pupils' organisation and presentation of notes, jotters, folders and of the prompt submission of homework.
• Review the extent to which assessment and feedback to pupils encourage them to identify and set themselves realistic personal targets for improvement.
• Consider the extent to which the strengths of under-achieving pupils are recognised and built upon.
• Build on some pupils' preference for using computers for organising and presenting work; provide supervised access to computers for study purposes at particular times within and outwith the school day.
• Ensure that pupils' experiences early in S1 and S2 do not demotivate either boys or girls in particular subjects.

• Establish a peer 'study buddy' system, using more senior pupils as partners/role models.
• Work with pupils to set and review short-term personal targets regularly.
• Ensure equity by gender in rewards and sanctions.
• Ensure that careers guidance and work experience is offered equitably to all pupils regardless of gender.
• Discuss and address stereotypes and myths with pupils at an early stage, especially by the end of S2.
• Review the gender balance and roles of visiting speakers who have contact with pupils about their future plans.
• Identify and target under-achievers.

• Build a culture of achievement: celebrate success.
• Ensure that the School Board/Parent Teacher Association has the opportunity to discuss any initiative to address under-achievement of boys and/or girls and how the school plans to go about it.
• Provide information to employers who have links with the school about approaches to gender issues and encourage them to support a culture of achievement in any contacts with pupils.
• Ensure agenda for action for individual pupils are shared with parents/carers in a positive and constructive way and at an early stage, so that they feel that their child can succeed.

I teach in a comprehensive city centre school in the Midlands of England. It is fairly unusual as it is an all girls school of which there are not many left now. We feel strongly that girls are given a much better chance to succeed in what can often be male dominated subjects such as mathematics, science, technology and ICT. However I carried out some research with a sample of girls from each year group (ages 11 -16) Students were asked how much they agreed with the statement "I like mathematics lessons in school" I also asked for reasons for their response and a comment of where they used mathematics outside school and why they may need a mathematics qualification in the future.

The results from 150 girls surveyed can be summarised as follows:

• 42% neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement (but stated that they liked some maths lessons but not all)
• 30% agreed with the statement "I like mathematics lessons in school"
• 28% disagreed with the statement

More 14 year olds disagreed than the older or younger students.

Reasons given for liking mathematics lessons

• Teacher explains the work clearly
• Gets your brain working
• Fun lessons including games
• Good teacher
• Lots of practical work
• Answers are either right or wrong with no imagination needed

Reasons for disliking mathematics lessons

• Having to copy from the board
• Boring
• Hard to understand
• Teacher talked for too long
• Covered topics too quickly
• Not enough fun lessons
• Not enough display work
• You have to think and not have your own ideas

Most pupils agreed that mathematics lessons are important and that you need a maths qualification to get a good job. One student wrote " you need mathematics for all jobs except cleaning toilets" It could be argued that you need maths there too!!

Students see practical uses for their mathematics in

• Counting money
• Working out change
• Working out tax
• Measuring a room for decorating it
• Cooking helping their children (in the future) with their homework
• Working out credit card bills