Bad teachers at the root of maths problem

I READ recently that the failure rate for Project Maths students had halved.

Right. So the new course is twice as easy? Now, according to the Dublin Institute of Technology, a failing E grade in Leaving Cert honours maths has become the new D.

Do these people have any idea of how just how weak a student must be to achieve an E after two years of study? How on earth does this represent an improvement in our maths skills?

As for the 25 bonus marks for honours maths, sure — but it looks as though we are attacking everything except the root problem. Most students are capable of achieving an honour in honours maths in the present Leaving Cert course without breaking sweat, but are let down by the poor standard of maths teachers.

The real problem is that poor maths teachers cannot be fired, and so will inflict enormous damage on generation after generation. Until this problem is tackled, any changes to the maths course would be just so much window-dressing.

Years ago I had an honours maths teacher who came in every day, read the newspaper and told us to “get on with our work”.

I know of a school with an honours Leaving Cert maths teacher who specialises in reducing the number taking honours from 30-odd to two or three. Useless teaching — covered of course by all that “extra effort” made for the students by keeping them unnecessarily after school two evenings per week, thus eating into their study time and disrupting all other subjects.

Now, according to Irish Primary Principals’ Network, it seems homework is no longer necessary for good teaching. I appreciate there are enormous differences between primary and secondary education, but unless homework is given, a child cannot know whether he or she has grasped a concept or not. More to the point, the teacher cannot know. Marking homework is both mind-numbing and back-breaking, but it is such an intrinsic part of good teaching that regardless of how effective a teacher believes him/herself to be in the classroom, all effort is wasted without the feedback only the giving of homework can provide.

The only way to teach kids how to write is to have them write. The only way to teach maths is to have them do maths. And these have to be checked. It isn’t rocket science.

James McGrath

Birchgrove

Hollyford

Co Tipperary