Maths suffers due to students’ work experience

Students lose out on one sixth of maths classes during transition year (TY) because of work experience and other activities, a study shows.

The research also suggests schools take greater account of teenagers’ progress during TY when deciding which maths classes they take for Leaving Certificate.

The study, carried out by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) at St Patrick’s College in Dublin, found schools preferred to rely on Junior Certificate results when making the decision, instead of the outcome of more recent test results and classroom assessments.

Students in TY have an average 83 hours of maths classes — about 30 minutes a day — but receive an average of just 84% of those hours.

“This gap between hours timetabled and received may be due to student participation in multi-day activities such as work experience that characteristically take place during TY,” said the ERC report.

It suggests a handful of schools do not teach maths at all during TY, and that the Department of Education should study any loss of maths skills during the year and the effects on Leaving Certificate maths.

“Schools should ensure that the teaching of maths is prioritised during TY, when it is likely that students will be engaged in other activities that demand large blocks of time,” wrote researchers Gráinne Moran, Rachel Perkins, Jude Cosgrove, and Gerry Shiel.

More than 1,300 teachers completed the ERC survey during last year’s testing of 15-year-olds in maths, reading, and science as part of the OECD’s programme for international student assessment.

The ERC also found differences in the level of TY maths teaching between school types, ranging from 61 hours in mixed-gender religious-owned schools to 77.5 hours in community and comprehensive schools. Students at DEIS schools received 73 hours of maths.