In a speech to the Royal Society, Education Secretary, Michael Gove has indicated that he would like to see the compulsory study of maths for pupils in England to age 18.

Mr Gove has repeatedly insisted that education standards in this country must rise to meet the growing standards of educational achievement of the nations of East Asia and used his speech to the Royal Society to once again highlight the disparity.

Mr Gove said that Asian nations “are growing rapidly industrially and technologically; integrating more and more of their people into the global economy; investing more and more in maths and science; producing the engineers, technicians, scientists and inventors who will shape tomorrow’s world.”

“Asia has a massive trade surplus, holds the fate of the dollar in its hands, enjoys surging growth and is developing schools, technical colleges and universities which are dramatically outpacing our own.”

Mr Gove went on to describe the situation in British schools where, he claims, 15-year-olds’ maths skills are now more than two academic years behind 15-year-olds in China. It is apparent that in the last decade, the UK has fallen in the international league tables: from 4th to 16th place in science; and from 8th to 28th in maths.

“While other countries – particularly Asian nations - have raced ahead” Mr Gove stated, “we have, in the words of the OECD’s Director of Education, ‘stagnated.’ “

Mr Gove reinforced his determination to reform the education system in the UK, “If we are to keep pace with our competitors, we need fundamental, radical reform in the curriculum, in teaching, and in the way we use technology in the classroom. Unless we dramatically improve our performance, the grim arithmetic of globalisation will leave us all poorer.”

The government is currently conducting a National Curriculum Review and some changes have already been implemented such as the English Baccalaureate, a performance measure for state schools recognising where pupils have achieved good grades across core academic subjects, including maths.

But Mr Gove would like to see a greater commitment to improving standards and levels of attainment in maths subjects. He said, “We still send powerful signals throughout our education system that it’s somehow acceptable to give up on maths. Critically, we allow students to abandon any mathematical study after 16, in stark contrast to other developed nations.”

“That is why I think we should set a new goal for the education system so that within a decade the vast majority of pupils are studying maths right through to the age of 18. There are strong arguments for introducing concepts earlier, for covering some topics more thoroughly, and for making certain subjects compulsory for longer.”

Mr Gove hopes to achieve this by improving the supply of teachers with specialist subject knowledge in sciences and maths, and focusing on improving the skills of existing science and maths teachers by offering high-achieving graduates, especially those in shortage subjects like science and maths, significantly better financial incentives to train as teachers – up to £20,000 for graduates with first class honours degree.

The Department for Education is also working with the Li Ka Shing Foundation, a Hong Kong based charitable organisation, and the Stanford Research Institute on a pilot programme to use computer programmes to teach maths.

Dame Athene Donald, Chair of the Royal Society Education Committee, welcomed Mr Gove's comments, "The Royal Society's most recent State of the Nation report identified a significant shortage in the numbers of students studying mathematics past GCSE, given the needs of higher education and the economy, and advocates that all students should study some form of mathematics to 18.”