Almost 12,000 students in over 600 schools/colleges now study Level 3 Core Maths. The uptake has grown steadily since its inception in 2016, but there continues to be barriers for some institutions to offering the post-16 qualification. As part of the work of the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, a small-scale study was conducted into ‘large A level providers’ who didn’t offer Core Maths. 66 large A level providers were in scope of the study, and this paper reports on feedback received from 20 interviews and 10 survey responses. Findings show that a major barrier within this type of institution is that many students are already taking alternate level 3 mathematics qualifications, i.e. A level Mathematics. Other hurdles are connected to this, such as timetabling and teacher shortages. Two additional concerns centered on the funding associated with the qualifications, as well as a lack of university recognition for Core Maths.
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