As one who does appreciate the beauty of mathematics, I agree with the report, in so far as that Maths should be taught in a way that students can love and appreciate its power and the magic of numbers.
However, on a more practical level, from a teacher's point of view, the syllabus is chock full of STUFF and outcomes and things that must be taught and achieved. There is hardly enough time to just cover it, let alone go off on tangents and appreciate it properly and fully utilise it.
Over the past 50 years the maths syllabus has been dumbed down (there is evidence of this when one compares matrculation exams from the 1960's to those of today) and topics have been left later and later in high school years. I actually learnt logarithms in Year 9 or 10, now they are not covered until Senior years and only then in the top levels of maths (please correct me if I am wrong).
Before one can truly appreciate the magic of maths one really needs the basic tools of the craft. These can only be learnt rote or mechanically and then you can divert. BUT if the tools are not being taught early enough, then appreciating them can only come later and that can't be at school if Senior students are learning basic tools for the first time.
In Primary and Infants children are being taught to explore maths and find their own way around calculations (which is great). They learn very little apart from multiplication, division, subtraction and addition with some fractions. Yes, they do some measurement and a little geometry but not a lot. Even talking about algebra seems verboten.
Is it this that delays the teaching of the tools of maths? Or is it that syllabus writers think that young people can't cope with harder concepts? My Year 7 son last year learnt combinations and permutations (home schooled, so I can do what I like) and while it was hard, he will see it again and will later be able to better appreciate it. Why is differentiation left so late? Why do some students not even encounter it? So much of higher mathematics (especially in Physics and Engineering) and the beauty of it is attached to differentiation and integration.
Self-esteem and the "I can do it" attitude MUST accompany any teaching in mathematics. If a student thinks they are dumb and can't do it, then they won't (whether they are capable or not). No manner of going off topic to the beauty of maths can be achieved without that. Why do we persist in advancing students a year at school simply because they turned a year older? If someone can't read in Kindergarten or Year 1, why do they go to Year 2 and 3 and 4 when the need to read is so important for success? The same goes with mathematics. If someone has not mastered the basic times tables, they are never going to cope with pythagorus or algebra where the knowledge of tables is assumed and required.
Today there is a big stigma attached to repeating but how kinder is it to give a student the time they need to master something rather than force them through the round hole at the pace set by the school? Some students will NEVER fully master everything in the time they have at school or even never, but telling them they must move on when they can't do the simple stuff is a waste of their time and the rest of the class's time.
What needs to be done:
1. Simplify the syllabus and remove all the extra outcomes. Just have the basics and simply applied. (If you have never read a syllabus document, do so and you will see how confusing it is. The simplist syllabus document is Ext 2 and they want to mess with that!)
2. Bring harder concepts earlier in introductory format.
3. Give teachers enough time to actually teach concepts properly.
4. Don't allow innumerate and illiterate students to progress in a subject until they have properly or adequately mastered the basics to the comfort of the student (and on the same subject, allow those who master the skills quicker to progress faster).
OK, that's enough ranting and being controversial.
