Cambridge to set new maths A-levels

Cambridge professors will set tough new maths A-levels after the university became the first to intervene in the exams system. According to the Daily Telegraph mathematicians will put together new syllabuses and exam questions as part of the Government's reforms to drive up education standards.

It says that Cambridge's department of pure mathematics has outlined how new-style maths A-levels should be structured, in a report sent to the Department for Education.

The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove was in Cambridge today to announce changes to the way maths is taught in schools.

Under the changes pupils would study A-levels that focus around a series of "key mathematical ideas", such as complex numbers, trigonometry, combinatorics, probability and centres of mass.

The report, by Professor Martin Hyland, head of the department of pure mathematics, argues that changes are needed because "the majority of the talented students which Cambridge is able to recruit do not have sufficient mastery of basic mathematics to enable them to confidently engage with anything other than routine problems".

In a key change, it recommends creating "graded sets of problems" for bright teenagers, while resources for lessons will be made available online.

The move by Cambridge is the first since Education Secretary Michael Gove announced earlier this year that he intends to give universities, particularly the most elite institutions, "a far greater role" in designing A-levels in the future, amid concerns that the qualifications are failing to prepare teenagers for degree study.

However, a leading higher education group has said it is against the plan.

Universities UK (UUK) said it does not believe it would be "advisable or feasible" for the sector to "take ownership" of the qualifications.