‘Points race must not focus so much on maths’

Institutes of technology believe efforts to ease pressures of the college points race should not be too focused on Leaving Certificate maths performance.

As maths results are a strong indicator of success at college, since last year 25 bonus CAO points have been offered to students who pass it at higher level. Early figures from the State Examinations Commission on nearly 50,000 intending Leaving Certificate students that the numbers taking the tougher exam will increase again this year.

Almost 30% — more than 14,500 — are provisionally entered for higher-level maths. This is up from 25% this time last year, although around 1,500 may end up dropping to ordinary level in June, based on previous years’ patterns.

A discussion document from Institutes of Techn-ology Ireland warns that bonus points may have unintended consequences.

At a conference on college entry, Waterford IT registrar Derek O’Byrne said 43% of university entrants in 2007 had 60 CAO points (ordinary level A1 or higher-level C3) or more in maths. However, the same standard was only achieved by 15% of those starting level 8 degrees in institutes of technology and just 4% in institutes’ level 6 courses.

“The proposal for maths bonus points could have a disruptive effect that could increase points [for courses] at one level and decrease them at the other. The media concentrate on 500 and 550-point courses but they are a small number of programmes and small numbers of people,” he said.

Mr O’Byrne also flagged concerns about proposals that students be offered broader courses and fewer specialised programmes starting higher education.

Widening the content of first-year courses with more places could reduce the number of high-points programmes and the risk of student dropout, but he said many shorter courses at the institutes are designed to meet skills needs in specific workplaces and are hard to broaden.

Department of Education secretary general Seán Ó Foghlú acknowledged there had been frustration with progress in the process looking at the transition from second to third level.

A Sept 2011 conference examined the pressures associated with the points system, its impact on learning at second level, and how students are often ill-prepared for higher education due to a focus on exam results in school.

Mr Ó Foghlú said a steering group set up last September by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn will report soon with recommendations on changes.

A final report from the Irish Universities Association on how they propose to amend entry methods is still awaited. Other research is examining possible effects of eliminating the sub-division of Leaving Certificate grades that increase the importance of every mark in the exams, a factor that promotes “teaching to the test” in schools over broader understanding of subjects.