Points system’s effect on maths results ‘perverse’

Changes to college entry requirements could get more students performing better in Leaving Certificate maths and help improve Ireland’s competitiveness, education experts have told a key economic advisory group.

A discussion document for the National Competitiveness Council, which advises the Taoiseach, also suggests all students should have online access to classes by the country’s best maths teachers.

The council identified shortcomings in maths education as a key priority to be addressed last autumn. A number of inexpensive and urgent recommendations on how to do so are made in the report it has received from Sean McDonagh, a former Dundalk IT director and former maths lecturer in Ireland and the US, and former Galway-Mayo IT registrar Tony Quinlan.