Do the PM鈥檚 plans add up? The new year’s conversation started with a bang following , to equip young people 鈥渨ith the quantitative and statistical skills 鈥� including finding the best mortgage deal or savings rate.鈥� Critics launched into a tirade, led by 鈥檚 furious, expletive-filled outburst in a video on Instagram. As a survey of over 7,500 teachers by revealed that 34 per cent strongly disagreed with the PM鈥檚 ambition, more politely and more succinctly voiced the concerns of many. GCSE Maths nearly broke me. I stayed behind after school twice a week for a year to get my grade B. The thought of having to carry on until I was 18 would have filled me with dread. We have workforce gaps but is this the way to solve it? — Shelly 鉂わ笍 (@andthoughshebe1) Meanwhile, co-head and director of curriculum innovation, Therese Andrews shared a with a more balanced view of the PM鈥檚 proposals, taking curriculum reform, recruitment, retention, and the purpose of education into consideration. Governors strive for higher standards of educational achievement. Therefore, we welcome strategies that boost young people鈥檚 potential. As such, I am certainly in favour of children being taught life skills such as money management, budgeting and financial analysis. The internet is full of resources to help teachers deliver that, and I look forward to the PM outlining his plans for how he will support them to accomplish his ambition. Is it time to pay up? The threat of impending teacher strikes is highly concerning for school governors. Having personally experienced the impact of Girls’ Day School Trust NEU members striking in February 2022 to protect their pensions, I am almost certain that nationwide strikes will have a detrimental effect on educational standards, further exacerbated for disadvantaged children. That said, the government鈥檚 new anti-strike laws are likely to further diminish the sector鈥檚 propensity to recruit and retain teachers, now and in the long term. But as anonymous Twitter user, , there are bigger problems than pay alone. In that context, the PM鈥檚 new year鈥檚 resolution for maths teaching seems all the more unlikely. As the Higher Education Policy Institute put it in a tweet promoting : “If you鈥檙e going to compel the growing number of young people to do Maths until the age of 18, you鈥檙e going to need a lot of new Maths teachers.” Meanwhile, in 2016 remains relevant and offers a useful resource on how school leaders can minimise strike disruption, along with links to further sources of information. Online misogyny: Is the game up? Following the arrest of online influencer and self-titled 鈥榤isogynist鈥�, Andrew Tate, have called for resources that counter his anti-feminist arguments. quite rightly highlight that Andrew Tate鈥檚 harmful content is not unique. Indeed, Twitter user, makes the point forcefully that misogyny is pervasive in the culture young people consume. https://twitter.com/noplothere/status/1611297320586321923 From a governance perspective, we have a duty to ensure that teachers are well equipped to challenge discussion. However, I am concerned that our response should avoid aggrandising Tate鈥檚 discourse, thereby amplifying misinformation and spreading anti-feminist rhetoric. To that end, I鈥檓 looking forward to next week鈥檚 webinar organised by community-interest company, Men At Work. Can all teachers look up? Finally, following an article by a er who asked ‘why don’t more teachers look like me?’, UCL IOE鈥檚 professor Alice Bradbury , revisiting her and her colleagues鈥� showing that that minority teachers felt there was a glass ceiling inhibiting retention and paths to leadership. Further confirmed last year by NFER research on , it鈥檚 good to see that diversity in educational leadership is hitting headlines. It鈥檚 particularly important that the headteacher of the school I govern is a Black woman, reflective of the school鈥檚 culturally diverse cohort. Governors have a duty to ensure children are educated in inclusive and representative environments and must hold their schools to account for establishing diverse teams.