Statement from the Commissioner on yesterday’s speech by the Prime Minister

5 Jan 2023 10:37 AM

Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, responded to the speech by Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, setting out his ambitions for all pupils in England to study some form of maths until aged 18

“Having a good grasp on numbers is helpful at all stages of life and can open the door to some fascinating and rewarding careers. In The Big Ask, the largest survey of its kind, children told me how important it is to work hard and get a good job, so I really welcome the ambition in the Prime Minister’s announcement which acknowledges the life skills that maths provides.

“I want children to recognise the opportunities available to them from a good grounding in maths. Our interactive quiz, launched last year, has been used by thousands of young people to better understand how maths is used in everyday situations and the wide range of careers it supports. We’ve also set a maths challenge for children to encourage them to learn about the world around them by using real data from The Big Ask.”

Our work in this area:

PM speech on building a better future: 4 January 2023