10 per cent of pupils fail to master maths

More than 30,000 children are finishing primary school every year with the mathematical ability of a seven-year-old, a report says today. The 11-year-olds are four years behind in maths skills when they arrive at secondary school, despite £2.3bn a year being spent teaching the subject.

The findings emerge from an investigation into primary school maths teaching by the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog. It shows that 66,000 children – about one in 10 – left primary school this summer still struggling to master the subject after failing to reach the required standard for their age in national curriculum tests, although the standard they reached at seven suggested they should have done. In addition, 34,000 had the maths ability of a child of seven. Overall, 132,000 youngsters failed to reach the required standard this year.

The report also warns that there has been very little improvement in standards since the turn of the century, even though this summer's results were the best ever, with 78 per cent reaching the standard (1 per cent up on last year). They rose significantly in the first three years of Labour from 1997 to 2000, from 59 per cent to 72 per cent. The report blames weak assessment of pupils by their teachers and the lack of practical maths in the classroom. "Using and applying mathematics is often under-emphasised in schools," it said.

At this rate, it argues, ministers face a "significant challenge" in hitting their target of 78 per cent of all pupils reaching the required standard in maths and English in 2011. At present rates, they will miss it by 4 per cent. They are also way behind an earlier target set for 2006, that 85 per cent should reach the required standard for maths. Edward Leigh, the Conservative chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, which received the report, said the figures painted "a far from rosy picture". He welcomed this year's results but added: "The evidence is that many of their children will not go on to make a success of their GCSEs. So even at the age of 11 they are in danger of being left behind."

Tim Burr, head of the NAO, said: "The rate of improvement has slowed and almost a quarter of pupils are still not equipped with the understanding of mathematics they need to study the subject further or to tackle subjects such as science when they start secondary school."

The NAO report also revealed that pupils from Chinese and Indian ethnic groups did better in maths tests than white children, but black African, black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups fared even worse.

Boys outperformed girls in the tests for 11-year-olds, almost the only time in any test or exam that they fared better. "Girls' progression in mathematics between key stage one [seven-year-olds] and key stage two [11-year-olds] is lower than for boys and the gap is especially marked for girls starting from a lower level in mathematics at age seven," the report said. "The department should identify what teaching approaches and resources are used for the teaching of mathematics skills to girls who find the subject relatively difficult and why these approaches and/or resources may be hindering their progress."

The gap in performance between schools in deprived areas and more affluent suburbs is marked. Only half of the schools with the highest proportion of children on free school meals had 65 per cent of their pupils reaching the required standard but more than 90 per cent of those with the lowest number of pupils on free school meals did so.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry, the Schools minister, said: "Maths is a key priority and that's why we raised results from only 59 per cent of 11-year-olds achieving the expected standard in 1998 to 77 per cent in 2007. We are taking further decisive action to help all children reach their potential."