Maths syllabus may face further changes

Education Minister Richard Bruton has said further changes to the maths curriculum may have to be considered as concerns continue about the number of Leaving Certificate students failing the subject.

With more students (28%) taking higher-level maths, nearly 5% of them, or around 700 people, failed. That is more than double the failure rate of four years ago, and has been linked to students attempting higher level because of the awarding of 25 bonus college entry points for passing since 2012.

Among ordinary-level students, almost 3,000 (9.2%) failed maths — up from 5.9% a year ago.