Mathematics Education in the United Kingdom

Each of the four constituents of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own educational system. However, it is the educational systems of England and Scotland that have historically displayed the greatest differences, and it is on those two countries that this chapter concentrates. Not until the second half of the nineteenth century did the State begin to play a great role within English education: only in 1880 did primary education become compulsory. By then the United Kingdom’s dominance in industry was being challenged by countries with better-established educational systems. This led to greater state intervention including increased provision for secondary education. Schools, however, retained considerable freedom regarding the curriculum. Only in 1988 was a National Curriculum introduced. Scotland had free (but not universal) primary and secondary education by the end of the sixteenth century. The following periods saw taxation supporting education and, as business expanded, independent ‘commercial academies’ began to rival the state system. The Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution had considerable effects on society. Education underwent major changes through the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, thus establishing the framework for the current system.