From our UK edition
18 min listen
This week: James Heale asks whether the cabinet secretary Simon Case can carry on (01:00), Cosmo Landesman tells the story of when a man – and his axe – came to visit his home in London (05:03), and Miranda Morrison warns against the damaging obsession with STEM in secondary schools (11:10). Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
Whenever I tell people I used to be a maths teacher the most common response is: ‘I absolutely hated maths at school.’ It is an age-old tale, to loathe maths lessons (or indeed your maths teacher). So, what better way to make children loathe maths even more than to make it compulsory until the age of 18? Rishi Sunak’s plan, announced at the start of the year, aims to address innumeracy and better prepare pupils for the workplace. There are many reasons why, on the surface, it seems a sensible approach – not least because the UK is one of the few countries in the world that does not require children to study maths in some form up to the age of 18.
From our UK edition
24 min listen
This week on Spectator Out Loud: Keiron Pim discusses what young Ukrainians can learn from the works of Joseph Roth (01:00), Miranda Morrison reflects on her decision to quit her job as a teacher (11:26), and Cosmo Landesman asks whether successful writers can be friends with less successful ones (19:39). Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
For the past four years I have worked at an academy in Hackney. I was deputy head of maths for three of those years, and head of maths for the final term, managing 16 staff. After nearly a decade teaching in the state sector, I’d finally worked my way up to a well paid and respected position. But this summer I walked away from it. I’m not alone. The profession is haemorrhaging talent: data from the National Education Union published earlier this year revealed that 44 per cent of teachers intend to leave the profession by 2027. Retention in London schools is particularly poor. The reasons why teachers quit are complex, but there are a few common themes. One is exhaustion.
From our UK edition
Over the past year and a half, I have been victimised by my neighbour’s cat. Bollinger the Bengal weighs just seven pounds and has a silly dangly bell around his neck, but he manages to terrorise both me and my two cats. He fights my male cat, George, so viciously that I fear he might kill him. Nothing irks me more than watching people cooing around Bollinger when they see his ocelot-like frame. While some Bengal cats can be wonderful pets, their wild instincts make them territorial and aggressive, as well as horribly effective hunters that can ravage bird populations. This summer, the town of Walldorf in southwest Germany introduced a cat curfew to protect the breeding season of the endangered crested lark.
From our UK edition
Simon Singh, founder of the Good Thinking Society and author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, believes that parents should ferociously ‘lobby their children’s schools’ if they still don’t run the annual Maths Challenge. For those not familiar with it, the Maths Challenge is a phenomenally well-organised competition run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT). It doesn’t cost much to enter — £13 for ten papers (for ten pupils) — and is a massive opportunity for children from all backgrounds. UKMT, a charity founded in 1996, aims to ‘advance the education of young people in mathematics’. It works with schools and volunteers to arrange junior, intermediate and senior challenges.
