Responding to the government's plans for all students to study maths in some form up to the age of 18, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Requiring students to study maths in some form until the age of 18 suggests the existing curriculum for younger pupils is failing to provide them with the numeracy skills they need for the world we live in

“A review of the current maths curriculum and GCSE qualifications should therefore be a pre-requisite to any new policy decisions.

“While it is important for young people to have good numeracy skills, it is also crucial to protect student choice, which will be narrowed post-16 if students are compelled to take maths.

“There can be no confidence that the government would even be in a position to provide enough well-qualified specialist maths teachers,  having repeatedly failed to meet its teacher training target for maths graduates. Even though this year’s recruitment round for initial teacher training is well underway, the government has yet to publish its recruitment targets.  This is no way to plan for future delivery.”