This article considers several key problems facing the teaching and learning of mathematics at secondary level. In particular, it studies the need for better defined aims for mathematics teaching; the standards currently being attained by students viewed from an international perspective; the validity of many of the assessment procedures on which the government places such emphasis; and the underlying problem, that of an insufficiency of well-qualified mathematics teachers - a problem that, for several decades, governments have chosen to ignore. Suggestions are made on how the various aims of mathematics education might be better met.
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