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I stand for election for the third (and final) term as a Member-at-Large mostly because I personally feel, and am very concerned, that in policy discussions on mathematics education, the voice of unversity mathematicians is not heard.

I had a chance to compare the working of the Programme Committee, on which I previously served, and Education Committee, on which I am serving now; in my opinion, Education Committee needs a serious change. Crucially, I feel that Council and Education Committee need a better understanding of education priorities.

Therefore I invite all LMS members to join  a discussion of education policy on this blog; all posts here are open for comment.

I suggest  ACME’s recent proposal (see http://www.acme-uk.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=228) to extend mathematics provision at schools to all 16-19 old students as a starting point for our discussion. This is a divisive issue: Chris Budd, judging by his statement in this blog, supports this idea, while Tony Gardiner and I assess it as a well-intended but naive and uncosted dream that in the current economic climate will lead to re-distribution of scarce resources away from Mathematics A-levels, thus damaging university level mathematics education.

As I am up for re-election as education secretary I would like to give some idea of my visions for the future role of the LMS in education, both in HE and in schools in these very challenging and fast moving times with drastic changes possible on the horizon.

I am passionately committed to promoting both mathematics research, mathematics education and also the broader appreciation and popularisation of mathematics at all levels, from school to HE and beyond. In recent years, through the Education Ctee, I have addressed all of these areas. As an active research mathematician, I also believe strongly that good mathematics research and good mathematics teaching are mutually supporting and intimately connected, and that both are vital for the health of UK mathematics. This certainly means that we must both have a robust attitude towards promoting excellence in education at HE and also to have a strong and vibrant dialogue between schools and HE with close engagement between the two in both delivery and on curriculum design. I have done my best to promote this,both in terms of direct support, and also in lobbying for mathematics, with a much broader focus on education than just HE matters.

The LMS is a Learned Society, with a distinguished history of nearly 150 years. Its membership surely believes (and has backed this belief by generous use of its considerable intellectual and financial resources) that the mathematical imagination can, and should, flourish in all parts of the world, that it is a source of international harmony(as well as scientific and economic development), and that its future must be protected. As President, I am keenly aware of the intellectual distinction, and the altruism, of our membership, and I believe that one of my main responsibilities is to ensure that the distinctive voices of our Society are heard. There are many issues specific to mathematics where these voices need to be heard. One is of course the issue of Impact ( where there are related general issues, but where mathematics is among the sciences most at risk). Another complex of issues relates to content and structure in mathematical education, informed by detailed knowledge of international practice, an issue which has been curiously neglected . We ourselves have been rather slow to get involved, but I am very encouraged by recent discussions at FGPC and Council (these will , I hope, lead to Discussion Papers to be put to the membership).

I am standing for election to LMS Council as a Member-at-Large, out of concern for the general direction of events in UK universities and the effect that this is having on every aspect of university mathematical research and education.

My position can be stated very simply: I want to do what I can to preserve the `traditional academic values’, especially those of greatest importance for mathematics.

I am standing against the incumbent Education Secretary.  I would not be doing so if the current situation were more-or-less satisfactory.  However, it is not easy to explain in a delicate way why a change is needed.

My own credentials are unusual.  Throughout my career I have struggled to bridge the divide between school mathematics, undergraduate mathematics, and research mathematics – to blend the insights of a mathematician with those of a classroom teacher, a curriculum developer, a textbook author, an examiner, etc.

Over the years I have taken every opportunity to work with children – mostly, but by no means exclusively, at secondary level.  I have also worked closely with teachers on curriculum development projects, in providing for able pupils, and in setting up and running the national pyramid of challenges, olympiads and summer schools.  This has been a humbling, but enriching experience.

I have been serving as a Trustee and  Member-at-Large of the LMS Council since my election at the AGM in 2006. I served on the Programme Committee and Research Meetings Committee and had a chance to witness the scope and quality of British mathematicians’ research as well as the remarkable efficiency of the LMS grant schemes).

 

Since 2010 I am serving on the Education Committee and involved in preparation of a number of education policy documents. Their aim is to help our colleagues in universities around the country to fight their corner and defend the interests of mathematics, mathematicians, and the mathematical community in an increasingly difficult administrative and financial environment.  (You may have a look at the preprint which is my homework covering backgrounds for one of the potential future statements; it does not reflect yet the position of the LMS; comments are welcome.)

I offer these few remarks on my work as Programme Secretary in support of the move towards more openness between the Council of the LMS and members of the Society, and I hope that other candidates for election this November will do the same.

My most important job as Programme Secretary is of course Chairing Programme Committee, which oversees the organization of the formal Society Meetings, and awards the grants for conferences, research visitors from overseas, research groups, research in pairs, among others. I have an excellent committee, and I know we all feel that these small research grants have an effect far beyond what one might expect from the amounts of money involved.

This year, I have also been busy with the International Affairs Committee, because of our responsibility for briefing the LMS delegation to the General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union. This took place in Bangalore in August, just before the ICM in Hyderabad (where the LMS was also very active).

Finally, I am Chairing the group which is redesigning the web site for the Society. I think most people feel (perhaps quite strongly) that our current site is woefully unattractive and inadequate.

From this week the LMS are doing incremental publishing of the Newsletter which means that Ola is putting up items once the copy has been checked and rights issues sorted, rather than waiting to the end of the month.

Please have a look at:

http://www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/main.html

(there is a link from the LMS front page).

The Research Policy Committee of the LMS is preparing position and information statements intended to inform the upcoming International Review of Mathematics.  The statements themselves may also be of interest to mathematics departments around the country.  The Committee would welcome any thoughts or comments that members of the mathematical community may have on the statements.

Three statements are in production and working drafts are available below.  The Committee would like to emphasise that these are working drafts, they are not statements of LMS policy and these have not been approved by LMS Council.

• Facts and Figures - This aims to show the current context of UK mathematical sciences.

• RAE-based Funding of UK Mathematical Sciences Research – This aims to show the RAE Mechanism and its operation.  A separate paper on REF and ‘impact’ will follow once there is clarity on its timing and detail.  For the moment we would prefer to focus on current arrangements.

• Doctoral Training – This discusses the nature of UK doctoral training in mathematical sciences.

The committee would welcome any views or comments on these statements.  We would also be interested in any sources of information or statistics that are available and could be used to inform policy.

Comments can be sent to the committee at lmspolicy@lms.ac.uk and we would be grateful for replies by 20th September 2010.

Ken Brown
LMS Vice-President
Chair, Research Policy Committee