What is 8 x 9?

What is 8 x 9? School`s Minister Nick Gibb`s answer: `I`m not going to get into this.`

School`s Minister Nick Gibb faced an embarrassing situation recently, when he was asked a simple multiplication question by Good Morning Britain presenter Jeremy Kyle:

`What is eight times nine?`

The Minister Dodged the question adroitly, employing a sophisticated and cunning retort:

`I`m not going to get into this. I`ve learned through bitter experience never to answer these kinds of questions on live television.`

He must have been aware that his demurrer was perhaps a little surprising, for he went on to express that he was keen to provide an answer:

`I`m very tempted to, but I`m not going to.`

If only I had known such tactics were available to me when I was at school, and could be employed whenever I was pounced upon by teachers who succumbed to the urge to become quizmaster. I thought the only options open to me were an array of wrong answers, inevitably leading to a humiliating spectacle of chastisement in front of the whole class; if only I had been aware I could politely decline to answer - simply say `I`m not going to get into this,` and return to my seat, secure in the knowledge that I was a model student.

Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway seemed dumbfounded by Mr Gibbs answer, asking him:

`Why is it so important for an eight-year-old to do it when clearly you feel vulnerable about it, and there you are, a government minister?`

`No eight-year-old or nine-year-old will be doing it on live television,` The Minister replied, settling the matter.

Nick Gibb had appeared on the morning show to discuss the Government`s new times tables tests, which are part of a numeracy programme to help ensure school children are proficient in their multiplications up to 12. A brief, five minute online test is being trialled in march, with plans for it to become mandatory for all year 4 students by 2020.

Many teachers are strongly opposed to this new test, seeing it as just another incarnation of the SATS test in mathematics, which was phased out after numerous complains that it placed an excessive amount of stress upon seven year old pupils.

Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, expressed his dismay about the proposed new test:

`We`re working constructively with the government on primary assessment generally so it`s hugely disappointing that they are still intent on the introduction of a multiplication tables test, which the NAHT opposes.`

In my opinion ensuring children have a good grasp of their times tables can only be a good thing - many complain that this kind of teaching is just brute force memorisation, but numerical proficiency will actually be useful in day to day life. Given the ever increasing technical demands of the modern workplace, more attention needs to be focused on mathematics at a younger age. This test will ensure each pupil can be accurately assessed, and any pupils that are struggling can be helped.

Nick Gibb himself has extolled the virtues of this new times tables check:

`Just as the phonics screening check helps children who are learning to read, the multiplication tables check will help teachers identify those pupils who require extra support.`

`This will ensure that all pupils leave primary school knowing their times tables off by heart and able to start secondary school with a secure grasp of the fundamental mathematics they need to fulfil their potential.`

Given his enthusiasm for times tables mastery, it is disappointing that he failed to display the skill he means to inculcate in pupils. To put it in stark terms: the School`s Minister failed to answer a question he expects all 11 year old children to be able to answer. He is of course not the only politician to come unstuck when presented with a numerical conundrum - who could forget Diane Abbot`s flailing when asked about the funding for extra police officers? Her calculations, given live on LBC radio, meant that each officer could expect to be paid about 10 pence a day! If only to avoid embarrassing (and potentially career ending) situations like this, and Mr Gibbs` muted calculations, the formalised teaching of times tables to young children can only be a good thing.