A post by MEI’s Maths Education Support Lead, Martin Newton, on the challenge’s origins, popularity and reasons for success.
‘The FE Maths Challenge provides a fresh way to engage students with maths, helping them develop resilience, teamwork, and a more positive attitude toward the subject.’
Katie Miller, Solihull College and University Centre
MEI’s Further Education (FE) Maths Challenge – a competition for those who didn’t achieve a grade 4 or higher at GCSE maths – is helping students across the country rekindle their love of the subject. Here, Martin Newton, MEI Maths Education Support Lead and organiser of the competition, explains how it began, and what makes it so successful.
40,000 FE students in a maths competition? That’s right! Read on to find out why it’s so successful and how you and your students can get involved.
Martin Newton
Martin is the project lead for the FE Maths Challenge, he is Assistant Director for Adult Mathematics, and also provides support on MEI’s grant funded FE CPD programme.
What is it and who is it for?
MEI’s FE Maths Challenge invites those studying GCSE Maths resit or Functional Skills Maths to take a step away from routine revision and rediscover what there is to love about maths. Competing in pairs for the chance to win on a national stage, students are encouraged to rethink their relationship with maths and experience genuine enjoyment and success.
Teachers who have worked with 16-19 students in Further Education will understand the challenges they face. The idea of getting them to take part in a maths competition might sound very far-fetched indeed. Yet the AQA-sponsored FE Maths Challenge continues to go from strength to strength, with 40,000 students taking part last year, with a record of 50,000 expected to participate in 2025/26.
Achieving a grade 4+ in GCSE Maths after the age of 16 is notoriously difficult. Despite a variety of fantastic initiatives, many won’t gain a 4+ by the end of their post-16 study. The FE Maths Challenge offers a different kind of experience – giving students the chance to build confidence, celebrate progress and rediscover enjoyment in maths.
How did it start?
The FE Maths Challenge originated in 2019 in Stoke-on-Trent, where MEI was working with three colleges as part of the Government-funded Opportunity Areas project. The project was designed to improve confidence levels and outcomes for students resitting GCSE Maths or taking Functional Skills Maths, and in all three colleges that took part in the project, those aims were achieved. From this success, the ideas for a maths competition emerged, which has since grown into the MEI FE Maths Challenge we know today.
Initially there was some hesitation about introducing this cohort of students to a competition. Many had obtained the lowest grades at GCSE – 1, 2 or 3, or no grade at all – and lacked motivation to study maths again. FE colleges typically offer these students a fresh start and training towards a career that they are motivated to work in, often through vocational study. The thought of more maths is often the last thing on their mind! Some feel that they have failed maths; others even hate the subject. Many also struggle with deep-rooted maths anxiety. Yet, despite the odds, we decided to trial the competition…
In the first year, 1,200 students from the three Stoke colleges competed. It was nothing short of a huge success. For many, despite the competitive element, simply taking part was enough. The idea of a maths competition felt unusual for so many FE students; for years it had been reserved for their ‘top-set’ peers. But being part of something that recognised their skills and abilities in maths inspired them, and those who did eventually emerge victorious celebrated like they had won the World Cup Final!
What is the format?
The format has been the same since the first running of the competition. There are three categories:
Funkies – students whose highest grade is a 1, or are studying Entry level Functional Skills Maths
Ein2steins – students whose highest grade is a 2, or are studying Level 1 Functional Skills Maths
GoForth – students whose highest grade is a 3, or are studying Level 2 Functional Skills Maths.
Students get to compete against those of a similar level, with the introduction of group names, to purposefully avoid categorising students by their previously achieved grades. We didn’t want to reinforce the sense of failure which is so often inherent within them.
Despite the challenge very much living up to its name, with questions that are hard and rigorous, year-on-year those who take part step up to the challenge. They engage enthusiastically and are highly motivated by the competitive element. Many have surprised themselves, and indeed their teachers, with their commitment and resilience.
Students take part in three rounds: first within their maths class, then in a college final, and finally in a Regional Final. From the first round, students work in pairs. This helps build their confidence and enables a collaborative and dialogical approach to competing. The round consists of a Kahoot quiz with 15 questions and takes about 15 minutes. All students receive certificates of participation, and there are additional certificates for the winners, runners up and third place.
The Kahoot quizzes are mostly made up of multiple-choice questions. To help students prepare, a set of training quizzes are available to practise prior to the first round. The quizzes involve fluency and reasoning type questions (typical of AO1 and 2 at GCSE), with some focusing on problem solving (AO3). Whilst students are having fun and competing with one another, they are also contributing to their exam revision (often without realising!).
The second round – college finals – takes place in students’ own colleges, with the best pairs from each class competing against one another. They remain in pairs and the best two pairs from each group (Funkies, Ein2steins and GoForth) go through to the Regional Final. In both these rounds, students complete a tarsia puzzle, with points being accumulated from both the Kahoot quiz and the tarsias.
How has the competition grown, and what’s next?
Thanks to its continuing success, more and more colleges and students have been attracted to the FE Maths Challenge. In 2021/22, 16,000 students took part from 49 colleges. By 2024/25, this had more than doubled to 40,000 students from 92 colleges. The event is now proudly sponsored by the charitable arm of the exam board, AQA.
For 2025/26, we’re raising the bar once again with plans to host a National Final – giving even more students, colleges and teachers the opportunity to take part and celebrate their achievements in maths on a bigger stage than ever before.
Positive feedback
The response to the FE Maths Challenge has been overwhelmingly positive:
96% of students rated the challenge as Good’ or ‘Excellent’
82% said it had improved their confidence in maths.
“Students enjoyed doing something different and the competitiveness of the challenge; they engaged really well with this.”
Katie Bellamy, Teaching and Learning Manager for Maths at the Isle of Wight College
How can colleges sign up?
Registration for this year’s FE Maths Challenge is now open and runs until 31 October 2025, with the competition taking place between late November and late March.
