The impact of assumed knowledge entry standards on undergraduate mathematics teaching in Australia

Abstract

Over the last two decades, many Australian universities have relaxed their selection requirements for mathematics-dependent degrees, shifting from hard prerequisites to assumed knowledge standards which provide students with an indication of the prior learning that is expected. This has been regarded by some as a positive move, since students who may be returning to study, or who are changing career paths but do not have particular prerequisite study, now have more flexible pathways. However, there is mounting evidence to indicate that there are also significant negative impacts associated with assumed knowledge approaches, with large numbers of students enrolling in degrees without the stated assumed knowledge. For students, there are negative impacts on pass rates and retention rates and limitations to pathways within particular degrees. For institutions, the necessity to offer additional mathematics subjects at a lower level than normal and more support services for under-prepared students impacts on workloads and resources. In this paper, we discuss early research from the First Year in Maths project, which begins to shed light on the realities of a system that may in fact be too flexible.

Keywords:

• tertiary mathematics
• mathematics education
• prerequisites
• prior learning

Subject classification codes:

• 97D10
• 97D99

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Office for Learning and Teaching. We would like to acknowledge the support and cooperation of the many mathematicians, statisticians and mathematics educators who shared their time and opinions with us in the conduct of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In this article, bridging subjects are defined as subjects which ‘bridge’ the gap between a university's entry requirements in mathematics and the actual level that students have achieved.

2. The FYiMaths project was an Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching funded project investigating the role of first-year coordinators in mathematics and the challenges they faced.

3. There are a number of factors that limit students’ opportunity to study advanced mathematics subjects, including, lack of availability at the school or internal school regulations on progression.

4. The ATAR score is a percentile rank derived from students aggregated results in their final senior secondary subjects and is used by universities across Australia to select school leavers for entry to degree programmes.

5. This forum was organized by the FYiMaths project in response to the evidence from early data collection about the level of concern and frustration around the impact of assumed knowledge entry standards on student outcomes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degree programmes.

6. A special issue of the International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education focusing on the impact of assumed knowledge entry standards was published as a result of the National Forum on Assumed Knowledge in Maths: its broad impact on tertiary STEM programs.

7. Group of Eight (Go8), Australian Technology Universities (ATN), Regional Universities (Reg), Innovation Research Universities (IRU) and Non-Aligned Universities.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office for Learning and Teaching [grant number LE12-2490].