17 December 2014
High school mathematics teachers have gone into Australian businesses to see for themselves the mathematics that workers use every day.
The teachers confirmed that there is a need to improve the connections between the mathematics taught at school and the ways in which mathematics is used at work. Importantly, they discovered that not only do many people in the workforce need mathematical skills, they particularly need to know when and how to apply them to practical tasks.
The study, conducted by the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT), the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and the Office of the Chief Scientist, found young people often have trouble transferring the quantitative skills learned at school to workplace situations.
