The champions of a passionate engagement with maths do not begin and end with Mr Woo of course. Media personality Adam Spencer has produced a run of popular books on the subject. "We want to make maths beautiful," said Jenny Donovan, the executive director of the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, an advisory body to the NSW Department of Education, last year. Suitably inspired, thousands of school students from around Australia and New Zealand have competed in the Maths Olympiad since 1987.

But results of the NAPLAN tests in literacy and numeracy conducted on students at years 3, 5, 7 and 9 has indicated Australian students are at best flatlining in both competencies.

Possibly the most problematic aspect of maths tutoring is its grimly reductive siren song to push students "over the line" in entrance exams and other tests. On top of this dire proposition, the maths-solving genius of the smartphone creates the tempting belief among young people that the most basic maths skills are redundant.

Rote learning has its uses at the base of maths instruction. The times tables are the definition of rote. But growing brains must move beyond this method. Young minds need to know why they are learning, not just what and how. No entrance test should require force-fed knowledge.

This also comes among wider debates in the education sector, and it is worth remembering the entry tests for the state's selective schools will be overhauled from next year. The Department of Education revealed in December it wanted to make questions less predictable, and therefore less susceptible to coaching.

Mathematics is a numbers game, but teaching and tutoring is a human pursuit so there will not be one simple equation to solve all the issues. It is encouraging to see the Australian Tutoring Association taking the issue seriously, but as it has grown in size and profitability the industry may need to re-examine the standards by which it measures itself.