Ireland’s reputation ‘at risk with poor results’

POOR Leaving Cert results could damage Ireland’s reputation as a cutting-edge economy, business chiefs claimed yesterday.

Chief executive of the Chambers of Commerce Ireland, John Dunne, said a fast response to consistently- high fail rates in maths and science subjects is essential.

“A key to Ireland’s success is a well-educated workforce but we can’t afford to sit on our laurels. Over the past decade we have positioned our economy to move forward very quickly but it could all be jeopardised if standards at this level continue to slip,” he said.

More than 4,300 students failed ordinary level maths, almost one-in-five students failed ordinary level biology and 11% failed physics at the same level.

Brendan Butler, employers’ group IBEC’s enterprise director, blamed too much emphasis on non-traditional subjects and modern languages in recent years.

“Performance in core subjects such as science is very flat and these results should act as a warning,” he said.

“Our education system is very good but it needs to be cutting-edge and it is not moving fast enough.”

Mr Butler said industry had a role to play and should promote its own sectors to young people.

“Ireland’s economic policy is to push forward corporate-based skills such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, but the education system is inconsistent with that,” he said.

He said the Government needs to move towards more practical assessment of students and to invest in the infrastructure within schools, particularly technology.

The Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools Parent Associations (CSPA) said there had been no commitment to addressing failure levels in maths and science for many years.

“We are calling on Education Minister Noel Dempsey to take decisive action by setting the class size at a recommended level of 20 pupils, with a maximum class size of 24 from this September,” said CSPA spokesperson Barbara Johnston.

The Institute of Engineers of Ireland (IEI) called for urgent and full implementation of the 2002 Task Force on the Physical Sciences, which aimed to improve student interest and participation in science subjects through to college level.

Labour Party education spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan called for an evaluation of science-teaching in secondary and primary schools.

Her Fine Gael counterpart, Olwyn Enright, said planning for more science graduates must begin with reinvigorated science labs in second level schools.

Green Party education spokesperson Paul Gogarty said there is serious merit in the idea of developing a general science course at senior level, as suggested by the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.