Schools will get £600 for every additional student who takes A-level maths or the core maths qualification, the chancellor is expected to announce in the Budget today.

Philip Hammond is expected to set out a £177 million plan to give schools and sixth forms the incentive to help boost numeracy skills.

The UK’s 15-year-olds were ranked 27th in the world in maths in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) league table published last year.

The £600-a-head inducement to schools will be available from 2019, using a baseline of the number of pupils taking the subject for A level this year, according to a report in The Times.

Core maths is a qualification for pupils who have achieved a grade C/level 4 in maths GCSE and want to study maths post-16 but do not want to take an A level in the subject. It is equivalent in size to an AS level but expected to be taught over two years.

Training fund for teachers

The chancellor is also expected to announce a £42 million fund to support £1,000 worth of training for every teacher, across a range of subjects, in selected schools in areas that have “fallen behind”.

The news has been welcomed by the Mathematical Association (MA). 

Earlier this year, the MA raised concerns that the new tougher GCSE could lead to a fall in numbers taking A level.

The warning came after Sir Adrian Smith’s report into the feasibility of extending maths education to all students until age 18, which concluded that there were not enough teachers or suitable qualifications to do so.

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