In 1989, the UK National Curriculum in Mathematics (Department of Education and Science, 1989) was introduced and the philosophy that statistics is a subject for all gained ground. Within the UK National curriculum, statistics (or "handling data" as it is known) now features throughout the years of compulsory education, i.e. it applies to all students between the ages of 5 and 16. For the purposes of this paper, "statistics" may be considered to be synonymous with "all the activities which pertain to data analysis", in which the role of uncertainty, or "probability", would be considered to be necessary for a full understanding of data analysis. At the 1988 ISI Round-table Conference Training teachers to teach statistics (Hawkins, 1990), the delegates concluded that there was a shortage of trained teaching personnel, both in the UK and throughout the world. Therefore, before addressing the question, "Who should teach statistics?" the 1992 Round-table delegates might have to consider the question, "Who is equipped to teach statistics?" When we attempt to answer this question, it may well be that views will emerge about the sort of person who would be most appropriately qualified (with a small "q") to teach statistics. However, if it were to be shown, for example, that only certain teachers have received any training at all in statistics, then, at least until this balance is redressed, these are presumably the teachers who "should" teach statistics.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education