UK's trainee maths teachers are bottom of the class when it comes to basic sums

They struggle with reasoning and thinking logically, despite the fact that they will be responsible for passing on these skills to youngsters.

Schools across the country are already having trouble recruiting and retaining high quality maths teachers.

The researchers from Plymouth University said it was alarming that so many trainees can get 'very basic' questions wrong.

Their study compared English final-year maths teacher trainees with their counterparts in seven other countries.

Trainee maths teachers in the UK came bottom of the class when it comes to basic sums, research shows

These were China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Russia and Singapore. All these countries have good reputations for maths education.

The continuing research, which is funded by the Centre for British Teachers, found that only 21 per cent of English trainees correctly answered a question about the chance of picking different sweets out of a bag.

This compared with 97 per cent of Russians, 63 per cent of Hungarians and 60 per cent of Chinese maths students.

And a simple question about square roots flummoxed half the English trainees but was answered correctly by more than 90 per cent of their Russian, Chinese and Hungarian colleagues.

The English candidates were weak on algebra questions, but they performed well on shape and space questions about trigonometry and geometry and data handling questions covering statistical techniques.

Singapore and Japan have yet to provide results.

Professor David Burghes, director of the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching at Plymouth University, said he was worried by the results, which are being analysed further.

He said: 'We are far behind other countries and the international average in terms of logic and rigour.

'That worries me because it almost feels like we have gone for numeracy rather than mathematics in our schools, particularly primaries  -  and I think mathematics counts.'

The research comes as a report from the Reform think-tank claimed that GCSE maths has become little more than a 'tick box test' in comparison with the old O-level.

It called for a major shake-up of the exam system and a reversal of a trend towards splitting exams into bite-size modules.

A National Audit Office report yesterday highlighted the problem of young people leaving school without good skills in literacy and maths.

In 2006-07, 45 per cent of pupils leaving school had not gained Level 2 maths (GCSE grades A*-C) and 40 per cent had not achieved Level 2 English.