UK School Drop Out

One in 20 British 11-year-olds leaves primary school with maths ability of a seven-year-old   

• SATs results reveal tens of thousands of pupils are falling behind

Huge numbers of pupils are leaving primary school with the maths ability expected of children four years their junior, shocking new figures have revealed.

Results of this year's SATs tests show that tens of thousands of pupils - one in 20 - are starting secondary school with the numeracy skills of a seven-year-old.

Boys were found to be performing worse than girls with around 15,600 falling well behind.

Slipping: Thousands of pupils are leaving primary school with the maths ability expected of children four years their junior .And figures for GCSE level maths, released two weeks ago, are equally shocking with one in three pupils failing to get at least a C.

The government has been quick to blame the previous Labour administration for misspending billions of pounds on education.  A government source said: 'Employers and universities complain about the quality of our children's maths.

'We have to put right Labour's failure.' 

Last week we revealed how universities are now being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences, because both the pupils and lecturers cannot cope.

Doesn't add up: Figures from last year's SATs tests revealed the low standards

The reputation of the country’s universities and graduates is now under threat, according to a report published by the education lobby group RSA.

‘English universities are sidelining quantitative and mathematical content because students and staff lack the requisite confidence and ability,’ the report says, adding that English universities are ‘not keeping pace’ with international standards.

It adds: ‘Recent research suggests that universities are marginalising mathematical content in the delivery of degree courses because English students are not capable of studying it.’

The report by the RSA – formally called the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – suggests that all students should be required to study maths until the age of 18, with the introduction of sixth-form qualifications such as ‘Maths for Citizenship’.

England is just one of a handful of developed nations that fail to educate pupils in maths until that age, it says.

Only 15 per cent of youngsters study the subject past 16, aside from GCSE candidates taking resits to boost their grades.

Some universities are no longer advertising the level of maths needed to study particular subjects for fear of putting off potential applicants, the report warns.

A survey released in January suggests that parents are partly to blame because they are often too busy to help with homework. The study by online tutor mytutor found many young children were leaving primary school unable to spell, add up or do their times tables.

Degrees: Universities are being forced to dumb down courses requiring the use of maths because both the pupils and lecturers cannot cope

It claimed more than a quarter of children were unable to add two small sums of money without using a calculator as they can't do division and basic algebra.

Twenty-seven per cent of children surveyed could not add £2.36 and £1.49 to get £3.85. In addition, more than a third, 36 per cent, could not divide 415 by five and a quarter did not know the answer to seven multiplied by six.

The survey of 1,000 children aged between 10 and 12 found that one in four did not know their times tables and a quarter could not use decimal points. Almost half of parents surveyed, 48 per cent, said they thought their child was worse at maths than they were at the same age.

Almost four in 10 parents - 39 per cent - said they spent less time learning with their children than their parents did with them a generation ago. 

Only 30 per cent claimed to spend more time helping their child with their learning than their parents did.

And nearly six out of 10 parents - 59 per cent - spent less than an hour a week learning with their children - amounting to just eight-and-a-half minutes a day.

One in five parents spent less than 30 minutes a week learning with their offspring.

Government education adviser Professor Steve Sparks argues that all students who continue with further education after 16 should also take a new maths qualification alongside their other subjects.

He claims that teaching post-16 students basic maths and statistics is vital for them to be able to compete in the modern world.Last year a report by former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman recommended that school pupils in England should study maths up to the age of 18.

It found just 15 per cent of pupils study maths beyond GCSE level, below almost all other industrialised countries where nearly all study the subject to the age of 18.Ms Vorderman said 24 per cent of economically active adults were 'functionally innumerate', with many universities and employers complaining that school-leavers did not have necessary skills.