A radical series of measures, costed at €200 million and designed to stimulate student interest in maths and science, has been unveiled by Fine Gael and Labour in a joint strategy.
The proposals come amid increasing concern at the high failure and poor take-up of maths and science subjects at Leaving Certificate level.
Some of the key proposals contained in the report include making science a compulsory subject for Junior Certificate students; introducing a new subject, Information and Communications Technology, for the Junior Certificate; completing an audit of teacher-training levels in maths and science; and an expanding facility for in-service training.
It is also proposed that much greater use be made of the internet for teaching and revision by putting maths tutorials, previous exam papers and filmed science experiments online. The parties propose transferring the focus in maths and science teaching away from rote learning and towards the use of real world case studies and applications.
The joint proposals also hint at a bonus points system for high achievers in maths and science.
Last year, more than 10 per cent of Leaving Cert students failed ordinary level maths. Only a small number of students take higher level maths amid a widespread perception among students that the subject is too difficult.
Last year, the chief examiner was highly critical of standards in maths. Many students, he observed, had applied rote-learning techniques, but few had a real grasp of the subject. Third-level lecturers have also commented unfavourably on maths standards of first-year university students.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development surveys place the Republic at average or below average in international rankings of students' maths performance.
The picture is broadly similar in science. Only about one in six Leaving Cert students takes higher level physics or chemistry.
Labour's spokeswoman on education, Jan O'Sullivan, was sharply critical of the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin. The Minister, she said, was quick to acknowledge the scale of the problem but very slow in responding to it.
"Only a radical root-and-branch reform of maths and science that challenges the way students learn as well as what they learn can hope to have a meaningful impact on students' experience of that subject," she said.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on education, Olwyn Enright, said the low number of students taking science at Leaving Cert level is a major weakness in our education system, and this Government has consistently undervalued the role of post-primary education in the scientific sphere.
"Other countries will not stand still whilst we play scientific catch-up," she said.
