Future of the LMS

New LMS website goes live (in beta)

Administrator — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:18:48 +0000

In a beta version at http://lmath-website.staging.premierithosting.com/

If you have any comments on the beta site, please post them here or on the New website for the LMS blog http://lmswebsite.wordpress.com/ by 26 November.

Alexandre Borovik: Opinions sought

Administrator — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:31:22 +0000

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.

But what should be the LMS’ response? In my opinion, the current procedures for formulation LMS’ policy are unsatisfactory. I believe that the role of the LMS as a membership charity and its Council should be, first of all,

listen to the LMS membership;
formulate consensus points of its members’ collective expert opinion on those aspect of education policy that affect university level mathematical education;
as a minimal requirement, avoid supporting positions not shared by the majority of LMS members.

As a membership charity which has advancement of mathematics as a charitable objective, we need to focus on areas and aspects of education policy where other players in the field have no expertise or motivation for carrying out a detailed and deep analysis. Of course, this includes, first of all,

University level mathematical education, including service teaching of mathematics;
PhD training in mathematics;
Training and professional development of university lecturers in mathematics.

But as major stakeholders in school level mathematics education, we should also look at

content of school mathematics, its level and quality;
mathematical skills actually acquired by university entrants during their school study;
format of school examinations and a value system instilled in students by the assessment system.

Your opinion? Please contribute your thoughts.

Alexandre Borovik

Chris Budd: Election Statement

Administrator — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:38:57 +0000

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.

I terms of what I believe and hope to achieve. Firstly, I believe that we should have a schools and HE programme of teaching maths which really engages, stimulates and challenges ALL of our students so that we can produce the next generation of both mathematicians and also mathematically rich disciplines. We must lobby government, both directly and through the media, for the support to do this. At HE level this means supporting lecturing staff (both in training, curriculum and in delivery), so that they can teach maths effectively and well without unnecessary interference from those who are unaware of the special issues related to mathematics teaching. This was the motivation for the issuing of the LMS Teaching Statement the year and the work of the LMS on the Maths benchmarking statement.

At a school level this certainly means that we must have challenging mathematics A levels (Maths and Further Maths) which engage a good number of students and adequately prepares them for the rigours of doing a mathematically demanding degree. I also believe that GCSE should stretch and challenge the best students whilst still engaging all students. I will continue to champion high and improving standards at all school levels.

I am also very concerned that far too many students in the UK drop maths post 16. This means that almost uniquely in the industrialised nations we do not teach maths to all students up to the age of 18. I do not believe that this is healthy for the future of the nation and I support the Pathways approach,outlined in the 2004 Smith Report (to which the LMS Education Ctee contributed) in which different mathematical courses are designed to meet different needs of the students. I hope that we can seek a world
in which all school leavers are mathematically literate and I will endeavour to make this possible. I recognise clearly that in a world of limited resource (both in money and in trained teachers) that there are tensions (and potential dangers) between supporting a demanding A level for the good mathematicians and also ensuring that more students study maths post 16. To address these tensions I strongly support lobbying for more funds in general and also initiatives to both encourage and guide the students and teachers on these courses so that we can both make maximum use of available resource and can lobby for more resource. For example I am a strong supporter of the Further Maths Support Programme, Undergraduate Ambassador Schemes and also the development of on-line and electronic resources for schools. I also believe that the LMS members should be engaged in writing excellent text books and developing new educational resources for this age group.

I have been actively involved in a number of initiatives to directly link HE Mathematicians with schools (such as More Maths Grads, Maths Careers, HESTEM) and I firmly believe that the LMS and its members should play and active role in developing more such initiatives in the future. The Education Ctee has been heavily involved in a close dialogue on maths teaching with CMS, ACME, JMC, HODOMS and various learned societies in other subjects, and I firmly believe that this should continue. I also support vigorous efforts to support, recruit, retain, train, develop and enthuse excellent maths teachers at ALL levels. We can only have good maths teaching if we have good maths teachers. The LMS Education Ctee has worked closely with the NCETM and strongly supports initiatives to develop CPD for maths teachers linked with HE. I also believe strongly that we should encourage as many good students as possible to go into maths teaching and support initiatives such as the UAS which gives such students the opportunity to act as ambassadors between HE and schools.

Finally I firmly believe that to convince the powers that be to fund maths we must continue to make the case for the beauty, power, relevance and importance of ALL branches of mathematics to everyone’s lives. To this end the Education I support, and am engeged with a number of initiatives to popularise mathematics including the popular and Gresham lectures, the Holgate scheme with schools, the small educational grants, the Royal Society Summer Exhibition and the British Science Festival (and many other science festivals). I passionately hope that the LMS and its members will continue to support, and get involved with,this work.

As a research mathematician I feel a great responsibility for educational and public engagement activities to explain what our research is about, to motivate and enrich our teaching and to ensure continuing support for research. I look forward to the challenges of the future of mathematics education, and very much hope that all of the LMS Membership can be involved in making the teaching of mathematics in the UK as good and challenging as it can possibly be.

Angus MacIntyre: Election statement

Administrator — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:05:48 +0000

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).

Last year already I committed to increased openness and involvement of the membership. A flexible mechanism for this, our new website, is now under development, thanks to enormous efforts by members of Council , staff, and others The energy displayed in these efforts is mirrored in the activities of Research Policy Committee in the production of maths-specific highlevel Policy Papers, providing facts and essential materials for discussion with funding agencies or the International Review. These papers are to be available on the website. I can claim no credit for any of this, beyond encouraging it. Other notable activities of Council and Staff involve the beginnings of a membership drive, and funding to encourage independent activities by young researchers.

It is hard work being on Council, and I want to put on record my admiration for the the selfless contributions of its members, who are motivated by a commitment to the advancement of mathematics. The atmosphere is cooperative, everyone is involved, and there is a confidence that we can analyze our way to clear statements of purpose. Our staffing is now back to last year’s levels, and our new Executive Secretary is able to build on a warm cooperation between all who work at DMH.

My basic intention is to have us become more coherent about the fundamental issues closest to our hearts and minds, without premature emphasis on political aspects. Naturally the latter cannot be ignored, and one hopes to engage more with people of good intellectual will in the political world. We continue to collaborate with cousin organizations, but our highest priority is to get our own intellectual house in order.

My hope, in asking for your support for a final year as President, is to steer Council and the membership towards a renewed independence. We have more than enough to do to reinvigorate our society, and to raise the level of discussion on specifically mathematical issues. The purpose of this is to protect our subject from the risk of dilution beyond recognition.

I urge you all to vote. Please be careful not to miss the deadline!

Kirill Mackenzie: Election statement

Administrator — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:34:38 +0000

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.

Tony Gardiner: Electoral statement

Administrator — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:24:54 +0000

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.

At the same time I have sought to challenge Ministers, officials, and the mathematics education establishment – nationally and internationally. This has naturally caused some to keep their distance. But mathematicians who spend significant time on educational matters are sufficiently rare that the community should be concerned at the consistent failure to make good use of available expertise.

The membership needs to be aware how much lobbying is done in its name even when the majority view would probably contradict the claims being made on their behalf. One blatant example arose last summer, when a significant group of academics saw clear dangers in the proposal to introduce an “non-academic” A level called “Use of mathematics”. The objectors may have understood only part of the problem, but their instinctive nervousness was entirely warranted. Instead of engaging with their objections, a statement seeking to salvage the proposal was issued the very next day in the name of the LMS! Similar examples have occurred this year, and continue to occur.

Issues which will affect us all are currently being wrangled over behind closed doors. The government are considering how to restructure A levels and 16-19 provision; they are reviewing the national curriculum; they are reconsidering assessment and league tables; they are reviewing the (corrupt) English practice of linking texts and examination syllabuses; they are looking for ways of reducing the cost of undergraduate instruction; and so on. And all this seems to be happening without *official* input from mathematicians – who are too often represented indirectly by those with quite different priorities.

I understand the natural inclination to support the status quo. But there are times when this inclination needs to be challenged. Now is precisely such a time.

Alexandre Borovik: Election statement

Administrator — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 09:07:04 +0000

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.)

LMS is a membership charity, and the majority of its members are professional academic mathematicians. I seek re-election for my third — and final — term because I believe that in the past the has not always efficiently represent the position of our community. I want to make sure that the voice of the LMS on education issues is more assertive.

I believe that the mode of action of the LMS and its Council on education should be, first of all,

listen to the LMS membership;
formulate consensus points of its members’ collective expert opinion on those aspects of education policy that affect university level mathematical education (A Levels in particular);
as a minimal requirement, avoid supporting positions not shared by the majority of the LMS members.

This brings me to another big project that I am involved in, and hope to continue to work on: I am a member of the project team working on the development of the new LMS website. We strive to make it more informative and allowing direct contributions from the LMS members. I would like to ensure that the new Website will include tools for policy consultations like blogs, discussion groups and wikis for collective online editing of documents.

Quite a number of recent posts in my blog are motivated by my work for the LMS.

Election statement: Stephen Huggett

Administrator — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 07:33:08 +0000

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.

New LMS newsletter

Administrator — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:51:35 +0000

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).

Research Policy Committee: Policy Position Papers

Administrator — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:08:23 +0000

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