How they were axed by trendy teachers

THE tradition of drumming times tables into pupils began to fall out of favour from the 1960s. A movement dubbed ‘the new maths’ sprang up among so-called progressive education experts and sought to ditch rote learning in favour of ‘activity and discovery’. Many teachers adopted these methods over the following decades.

In 1988, the Tory education secretary Kenneth Baker declared his support for times tables – but faced stiff opposition. For much of the following decade, the Tories battled to get teacher training colleges to axe ‘trendy’ theories in favour of proven methods for raising standards.

Times tables were on the national curriculum under the Tories in the 1990s but it was not until 2010 that a serious crackdown on times tables standards arrived under education secretary Michael Gove.