Submission to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy
The Australian Mathematical Sciences Council
A thoroughgoing review of the mathematical sciences in Australia was carried out in 1994–95 by a Working Party appointed by the Australian Academy of Science. The review was one element of the Australian Research Council's (ARC's) program of Discipline Research Strategies and had the active support of the relevant professional societies, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Council (AMSC), mathematics and mathematics education staff of Australian universities, and the broader Australian mathematical community. The aim was to identify goals for the mathematical sciences for the next 10–15 years and to formulate strategies to attain these goals. The exercise culminated in the publication by NBEET (1996) of a 124 page report Mathematical Science: Adding to Australia.
This report addresses many of the same problems facing the current Review of Higher Education, so the AMSC strongly recommends the report to the Review Committee. The following issues are based on information gained through the discipline review.
The mathematical sciences are generic enabling technologies critical to Australia's economic competitiveness and quality of life. A strong vibrant higher education sector in the mathematical sciences is absolutely essential for the national development. (NBEET, 1996, p. x)
The tertiary sector must prepare sufficient graduates with specialities in different areas of the mathematical sciences, as well as primary and secondary teachers with expertise in Mathematics Education. This is not currently the case: universities have not responded to increasing national needs in these areas or even held graduate levels steady. Numbers of mathematics graduates and Honours students are falling, and there is an urgent need for well-qualified secondary school mathematics teachers in all states.
In the face of tighter budgets, mathematics departments are being closed or amalgamated, with consequent reduction in available courses and the use of less-qualified, casual staff. Contact time in mathematics units has been reduced with consequently fewer opportunities to assess or meet the needs of individual students and end-users. Students now enter tertiary institutions with a wide spread of background experience and gaps in essential understandings. ‘Service courses’ are frequently taught to combined classes of students by people from other disciplines lacking the required background for mathematics. The AMSC recommends that mathematics units be taught only by appropriately qualified staff.
AMSC does not support moving teacher education away from universities. The shift of Education into universities has been a positive move, enabling teachers to develop strong disciplinary bases. These not only improve teachers’ knowledge, but also improve graduates’ opportunities for other employment and for gaining experience in industry and research that can be brought to the classroom. The AMSC commends recent moves to four years of tertiary studies for all registered teachers and the move towards double degrees, to provide adequate time for developing discipline content and specialised teaching methods.
Students of the mathematical sciences and people destined to teach these disciplines need access to and training with appropriate technologies, but tightening of university funding is affecting the provision of necessary technological infrastructure.
It is essential for Australia to have a sound research base in the mathematical sciences. … The mathematical sciences make a vital contribution to many fields of research and endeavour. (NBEET, 1996, pp. x–xi).
There is a need for support for research in mathematics, with a preservation of the discipline in face of sectoral emphases for funding. While the Cooperative Research Centres scheme has had some desirable features and outcomes, it does not provide an interface with large parts of the commercial world in which mathematics is fundamental, e.g. finance, insurance and banking. The discipline review noted:
AMSC recommends that future needs of industry, as well as the training of postgraduate students in mathematics, be monitored to ensure (a) that demands will be met, and (b) that appropriate mechanisms (scholarships, fellowships, infrastructure, etc.) will be instituted to attract and support quality researchers.
The health of the mathematical sciences in Australia is sensitive to reforms perceived to affect career opportunities. The tertiary sector needs to provide incentives for students to become experts in those areas that underpin educational Australia’s development. Disincentives to the study of mathematics-based courses include:
- the tardiness of the commercial and industrial sectors to recognize the advantages of employing mathematical scientists;
- the increase in HECS charges and high proposed fees for mathematical courses with no compensating salary incentives (likely to dissuade students from taking Mathematics majors [and particularly double majors], Honours years and post-graduate work; as well as to dissuade undergraduate and postgraduate teachers from specialising in a study of mathematics ); and
- the currently skewed age, gender and socio-economic distributions in the mathematics profession.
Higher retention rates in Years 11 and 12, and recent changes to demography, labour markets and educational expectations have led to increased retention rates at secondary schools; and subsequently to a watering down of expectations of mathematics students as well as an increased range of options that allow university entrance. This creates problems in transition to tertiary mathematics courses, and is exacerbated by all levels of mathematics being taught by under-qualified staff—a predicament that the tertiary sector needs to take action to remediate.
The recent emphases on specific training programs and the acquisition of competencies have encouraged a myopic view of education. Such reforms discourage students from courses in fundamental areas and encourage a false sense of values in potential employers. The mathematical sciences have been effective in a broad range of fields—scientific and industrial, commercial and financial—and their effectiveness should be underscored by strong support of mathematics at all levels of the educational process.
National Board off Employment, Education and Training (1996).Mathematical Science: Adding to Australia. Canberra: AGPS.
The Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science (Speedy et al, 1988-1989) was a comprehensive report that made widely endorsed and accepted recommendations for teacher training and qualifications in mathematics and science. These were directed at Federal and State departments as well as tertiary institutions; but any small gains made are now being eaten away and many recommendations regarding initial and further education of mathematics teachers have been ignored.
Such reviews are key elements in the regulation of higher education. They are expensive but comprehensive and enlightening. They provide firm directions for government and institutional management as well as periodic reviews of progress. It is therefore of great concern that they lead to very temporary consciousness raising, with little concerted effort to implement longer-term recommendations. AMSC notes that it is difficult to implement the recommendations of visionary long term reviews when governments have more short term, expedient points of view.