Teachers would be paid £1,000 to attend week-long summer schools in maths under proposals to improve teaching of the subject in England’s 17,000 primary schools.

The recommendation is outlined today in a major review of maths teaching in primary schools by Sir Peter Williams, a distinguished academic and businessman who chairs the Government’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education.

Sir Peter’s report, seen by The Times, exposes how poorly equipped primary schools are to teach maths, noting that the highest qualification in the subject held by most primary teachers is grade C GCSE, often gained a decade or more before they embarked on teacher-training.

Only 227 of the 10,000 trainee primary teachers recruited on to PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) courses, or 2.3 per cent, have previously studied maths, science, technology or engineering to degree level.

The review, commissioned personally by Gordon Brown amid concerns that almost a quarter of 11-year-olds are failing to meet the expected standards in numeracy, calls for every primary school to appoint a maths specialist. These would be required to develop a deep “mathematical subject and pedagogical knowledge” to masters degree level so they could coach colleagues in the subject.

“We have good reason to believe that the last maths training for the average primary teacher is their GCSE maths. That does not constitute a basis for pedagogical understanding,” Sir Peter said.

The review rejects the idea of raising the minimum entry requirement for a teaching degree from grade C GCSE to either A level or AS level maths. Even raising it to a grade B GCSE would prevent large numbers of candidates from applying.

Instead the review says that a nominated maths specialist from each primary school should be required to attend a week-long summer school at a university or other training institution for three consecutive years. They would be paid £1,000 each time.

During their three summer school courses, teachers would build up credits towards a masters level qualification, which they could complete after two further years of part-time study. Maths specialists attaining a masters level qualification qualify for a one-off payment of £2,500.

Sir Peter is also proposing that an incentive payment of £5,000 be made to trainee teachers who undertake a maths-focused PGCE course, with half the money paid up front and the remainder when the teacher achieves maths specialist status. Similar payments already exist for those training to teach maths at secondary school.

Sir Peter estimates that the programme will cost less than £20 million a year. “It should be seen as an investment in the nation’s future, not as a cost,” he said.

Training for childminders and nursery workers should include appropriate mathematical content so that children could start learning their numbers through play from an early age.

The review also says that schools should actively engage parents in maths workshops or with maths home-work that the whole family can join in.

It was essential, if children were to grow up feeling confident about their maths abilities, that schools and parents combat the pervasive “can’t do” attitude to maths, that appeared to be unique to Britain, Sir Peter said.

The review concludes that the current primary curriculum should remain, although it recommends a greater emphasis on the use of maths in everyday life.

Mark Siswick, joint head teacher of Chesterton Primary School in Battersea, South London, which already has a maths specialist teacher, said: “Her role is to skill up other teachers. Once you do that, if teachers are strong, confident and enthusiastic, they will transmit that to the children.”

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