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Primary teachers have expressed their views that lecturers who are sent to upgrade their maths skills need to have more classrooms experience.

An overview of the case of Suzie Hardwick, who after leaving school with a dislike of mathematics and a level 3 CSE in the subject, went on 30 years later to become a mathematics teacher after gaining a degree from the University of Sussex. Hardwick began taking maths courses again so that she could help her daughter study the subject but, with the help of teaching assistant Jo Fielder, went on to get a GCSE in the subject before taking the plunge and beginning a degree course.

Mathematics teachers who wish to teach at A-level standard in British schools should extend their abilities by running mathematics clubs, writing in journals and reading mathematical books. Many mathematics teacher fail to undertake any activities which would demonstrate to prospective employers they could teach at a higher level of mathematics. A school found it almost impossible to find a suitable candidate to teach mathematics to children over the age of 16 years.

An analysis of the achievements made in improving the teaching of mathematics in primary schools in England between 1995 and 2003 and the challenges that still exist. It is suggested that primary school teachers should be given sustained training in the teaching of primary mathematics and that the framework for the teaching of maths should be reviewed.

Children must have a fundamental knowledge of mathematical logic in order to cope with future topics such as algebra, and primary schoolteachers should have higher mathematics qualifications than currently required to improve the mathematical achievement of their pupils. Teachers must be more competent than the level they teach, paricularly for early primary shcoolchildren. Primary school teachers in countries such as Poland are required to undertake a two-year mathematics course under a baccalaureate system.

Designing standard tests for mathematics teacher trainees in the UK is a complicated task likely to be full of inadequacies. Teachers use different interpretations of mathematical concepts and theories to teach mathematics in the classroom. Their use of words is highly individual and unlikely to fit into any standard category for testing purposes.

An advisory teacher for mathematics in a Suffolk, UK, describes a training course for math teachers conducted by him to help them develop confidence and taste for the subject. His algebra course for teachers required creativity and reasoning in the teachers. The investigative approach helped many teachers who were indifferent about math gain confidence and encouraged them to re-examine their old ideas and analyze new ones.

Primary level mathematics teachers have been participating in 20-day courses funded by the UK Department of Education and Science (DES) since 1990. During that year, a course package was developed by the Centre for Mathematics Education to augment the in-service training of the DES. The advantages of the training include educator reacquaintance with unknown aspects of the national curriculum, improvement of proficiency in teaching and gaining of confidence through a learning interaction with academic peers.

British Education Secretary Kenneth Clarke proposes initial training to improve the proficiency of secondary-level mathematics instructors. Inferior teaching of maths is attributed to unsatisfactory teacher qualifications. The hiring of competent teachers is necessary to upgrade the standards of mathematics education. Clarke's proposal may help remedy existing educational system guidelines that allow unqualified instructors to teach secondary-level mathematics.