Maths initiative moves grades in right direction

A MAJOR initiative to improve maths results appears to be moving grades in the right direction.

Although a record low proportion of Leaving Certificate maths candidates chose higher level papers in June, there is encouraging news in the results of students who sat the first exam in a new syllabus for the subject.

Of 52,290 students who sat maths papers, 72.5% took the ordinary level exams. But just 16% — 8,390 — took the higher level exam, down from 16.2% a year ago and 17% in 2008.

However, there is far more positive news in the outcome for 1,818 students at 24 schools who took the first exam in Project Maths, which focuses on practical applications of the subject to everyday life. They sat the same Paper 1 as the other 50,000 maths candidates but their Paper 2 examined them on the statistics and geometry elements of the new course.

It is being taught on a pilot basis since 2008 and to be examined for Junior Certificate at the 24 schools for the first time next June.

Of those who took Project Maths papers, 18.5% opted for higher level, while the failure rate at ordinary level is distinctly lower than among the wider cohort of maths students.

Although the proportion of ordinary level students who failed fell below 10% for the first time in the past decade, there will be concerns 3,714 have not managed to achieve a D grade.

Anne Looney, chief executive of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment which is overseeing the implementation of Project Maths, said the increase in higher level uptake should be viewed positively, even in a small sample.

“Great credit is due to the maths teachers who were really challenged over the last two years, and who put in an enormous amount of hard work trying out the new approaches and giving us feedback. And we have to thank the students, who had to re-think how they did some aspects of mathematics and tackle a new style of question,” she said.

While college representative organisations have indicated a willingness to respond favourably to Education Minister Mary Coughlan’s suggestion they offer bonus points for college entry to students with higher level maths grades, it may be 2013 before school leavers see any such benefit.

However, she said details will emerge over the coming weeks of which colleges are to give bonus points and students beginning fifth year in the coming weeks should be aware that they could be available from as early as the 2012 CAO process for Leaving Certificate students.

In the science subjects, 9.2% of higher level biology students failed, up from 7.7% two years ago and 8.5% last year. The numbers at ordinary level who failed are down slightly from 15.4% to 14.5%, still a worrying rate.

Similarly in chemistry, higher level fail rates continue to rise, up from 5.5% in 2007 to 8.1% today.

Almost one-in-five ordinary level chemistry students failed, again higher than in the past three years.

The news is not as disappointing in physics, where fail rates at higher level are down slightly to 7%, but are up from 10% in 2009 to 11.6% at ordinary level.

However, despite a rise in overall Leaving Certificate candidates, the numbers choosing physics at either level is down for the third successive year — from 7,251 in 2007 to 6,745 this year — to around 12.4% of all students. Conversely, student interest in chemistry is on the rise and now holds a commanding lead over physics as the second most popular science subject, chosen by almost 14% of candidates. It was taken by 7,548 candidates in June, up slightly on last year and significantly higher than the 6,927 who took it in 2007.

Other subjects with fail rates of more than one-in-10 were mostly at ordinary level, including technology (19.2% failed), accounting (14.3%) and construction studies (14.1%), applied maths (12.8%)