THOUSANDS OF Leaving Cert students are still turning away from higher level maths – despite concerted efforts by government, business and teachers to boost take-up in the subject.
New Department of Education figures show the take-up for the new more “user-friendly” Project Maths at higher level is only marginally above that for the current exam.
Only 16 per cent of students take higher level maths in the Leaving Cert – the lowest figure for any higher level subject. The take-up is shown to have increased only marginally to 18.7 per cent in the 24 schools who took the Project Maths course last year.
The new figures – revealed by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn in the Dáil – also show that 20 per cent of students who registered to sit higher level maths in the Leaving dropped down to ordinary level in 2010. This reflects concern among students that they could fail higher level maths, making them ineligible for many CAO courses.
Last year, more than 4,300 students failed maths at higher, ordinary and foundation level.
Boosting Ireland’s performance in maths will be a key priority for the Minister. In the international OECD rankings, the performance of Irish teenagers in maths has fallen from 16th to 26th place, the second steepest decline among participating countries. Ireland is now ranked as below average in maths.
In a further bid to address the crisis in maths, third-level colleges have agreed to operate a bonus points scheme for higher level maths for a four-year trial period, beginning next year.
A bonus of 25 points will be allocated to students who achieve a grade D3 or above in higher level maths. But a bonus of 25 points may not be enough to significantly change student choice. A series of studies has shown that higher level maths is by some distance the most time-consuming subject at Leaving Cert.
