Higher level maths to be minimum requirement

Higher level Leaving Certificate maths is to become a minimum requirement for people wishing to enter teacher training.

Education Minister Ruairí Quinn made the announcement before referring to his “highly feminised audience and profession”. The comment drew an rumble of discontent among delegates, which forced him to halt his speech for 30 seconds.

“I also want to see higher level mathematics in the Leaving Certificate becoming part of the minimum entry requirements for Initial Teacher Education and I’ll tell you why — to a highly feminised audience and profession — our research shows that young women who do the Junior Certificate and take higher level mathematics comfortably in the Junior Certificate exam, drop higher level mathematics when they do their Leaving Certificate because it is not a requirement. This is evidence-based research, and that’s why we want to see it happen.”

In response to Mr’s Quinn’s remarks about the INTO audience being “highly feminised”, general secretary of the union Sheila Nunan opened her remarks with a quip that drew a standing ovation: “Sisters — hell hath no fury!”

“I’m quite agnostic about honours maths, but the sisterhood know well the simple sums of the primary school are: 30 into one teacher doesn’t go very easily; 46% cuts in assistant principal posts do not make for a good running of school; 20, 40, and 86 pupils in a two-, three-, four-teacher school as our president said, are not easily divided.

“So whatever way you multiply it, add it, subtract it, do the Pythagoras theorem, I have one message, minister: The sum we’re looking for is an increase in the money that goes into education. It wasn’t the honours maths that made the Irish women the way they are today, let me tell you. It was the boys who did the honours maths that led the country to ruination.”

Speaking at a press briefing following his speech, Mr Quinn said he had intended his remarks as “a compliment” to the young women who make up 85% of the primary teaching profession.

“They realise that they don’t need higher level maths for entry into the Initial Teacher Education and that requires more work than ordinary level so they drop it,” said Mr Quinn. “I think that we need, in fact, to have our primary school teachers at the same level in mathematics that we require of them in the Irish language.”

Ms Nunan said there was “an historical legacy” where a generation of Irish women did not have the option of doing higher level maths, but said the most important thing was the competency in maths of teachers exiting teaching college, rather than it being a barrier to entry.