The Higher School Certificate (HSC) exams are underway and students across the St George region are taking a major step towards their future. The HSC is the most important exam any teenager will do, particularly those aspiring to going to university.
Australia needs more students entering university courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). STEM education is the key to Australia's current and future productivity.
So I was concerned to see the drop in the number of students studying mathematics for their HSC.
According to the NSW Education Standards Authority, one in four year 12 students over the last 10 years did not do any HSC mathematics course, compared to just six per cent of students in 2000.
The majority of the students who do maths are doing the less academically challenging version of the subject. This year more than half of students chose the standard mathematics course that does not include calculus. Enrolments in advanced and extension 1 mathematics are lower than they were 10 to 15 years ago.
The NSW Government's maths strategy is clearly not working. It is failing to meet its goal of increasing the number of students studying mathematics and the proportion studying higher-level HSC mathematics.
The reasons for the decline are varied but include a lack of incentives to study maths and a tendency by students to choose easier subjects which they believe will improve their Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR).
So the numbers just don't add up - Australia needs more STEM graduates and more students with skills in advanced mathematics, but our high schools are not producing them.
So what can we do to fix this problem? The answer must include making mathematics compulsory for entry into more university courses such as economics, commerce, medicine, computing, engineering and the sciences. Making mathematics a prerequisite to university entry sends a clear signal that maths is important, especially if a student wants to pursue STEM career.
