If Vorderman is the answer, Cameron's asking the wrong question

Is Carol qualified to assess teaching? Photograph: PA

We're all feeling the pinch. So you can't blame Carol Vorderman for accepting a new high profile role after Channel 4's eye-watering offer of a 90% salary cut to continue as co-presenter of Countdown. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to work out that 10% of her reported £900,000 salary wasn't worth getting out of bed for after 26 years.
But

She points to the findings of the 2007 Timms (Trends in International Mathematics and Science) study of 10-14 year olds, which showed the UK's performance to be well above average and among the highest-achieving of the 59 countries that took part.

As we all know, Dave loves a gimmick, especially one he thinks might entice younger voters. His announcement made via live webcast (amid surreal webcam footage of Cameron and Vorderman frolicking in the snow) argued that iPods, video games and networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace could never have existed without maths. Does he really think statements of the blimmin obvious will have kids performing quadratic equations before you can say "Two from the top please Carol…"?

According to a maths teacher, Juliet Upton, who teaches at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds, Cameron is missing the point. "Instead of knocking maths teaching, he should be looking at staffing. Does he have any idea how hard it is to recruit maths teachers these days?"

Despite the introduction of tax-free bursaries and golden hellos, recruitment and retention of maths teachers is still a big concern. Research published by Education Data Surveys last May suggests vacancies for maths teachers could soon exceed the number of newcomers to the profession.

It is easy to say maths teaching isn't up to scratch, that standards are falling or exams are getting easier. Far more challenging is addressing the issue of how to persuade suitably qualified professionals to teach maths, a conundrum even Vorderman can't solve.