The £15 million programme of investment to develop science in schools - announced by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Martin - is to be welcomed, given the sharp decline in the number of students opting to do physics and chemistry for the Leaving Certificate. If anything, the initiative is overdue. The fall-off in those taking science subjects has been evident for a decade and more, long before the current minister took office, and a plethora of warnings from science teachers in recent years failed to trigger a response from Government.
The Government's decision to fund the new programme is not to be interpreted simply as support of science for science's sake. It is clear that the State's continued ability to attract inward investment depends, in some measure, on the availability of graduates versed in the sciences. The Republic would be much less attractive as a location for foreign multinationals if a skilled, scientifically-literate pool of labour was not available. Mr Martin plans to invest the £15 million over the next three years; the funds will be used to modernise school laboratories, update the science syllabuses and provide in-service training for teachers. A novel approach is the addition of a £10 "bounty" which will be paid to schools for each student who opts to take physics or chemistry.
The decision to invest in improved facilities and training is valuable but will be wasted unless fundamental changes are made in the structure of the science curriculums. The high failure rates for both Physics and Chemistry suggest that something is wrong or missing in the content of both courses. As has been pointed out by this newspaper's Education Correspondent, 19.8 per cent of students taking ordinary level physics in the Leaving Cert fail to reach grade D or higher and 21.5 per cent of students taking ordinary level Chemistry do not achieve D or higher. The comparable figure for English is 6.6 per cent and for economics, 4.4 per cent.
Students are well versed in calculating what combination of subjects they should take to maximise the points they can achieve in the Leaving. It is small wonder then that physics and chemistry numbers are declining, given the difficulty getting a high grade. Mr Martin has promised to address the issue of course content at both Junior Cert and Leaving Cert levels. An immediate review of the Junior Cert science syllabus will be undertaken by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and a revised Leaving syllabus is scheduled to be examined for the first time in 2002.
It is to be hoped that nothing intervenes to interrupt this progress. The numbers leaving secondary school and ready to enter science subjects at third level are dangerously low. Below a certain critical mass of students, these faculties may lose their vibrancy and may not even be able to conduct some important research work. It is the strength of university research here that so appeals to companies wishing to set up technology based companies in Ireland. This State need a continuous supply of science graduates if it is sustain and develop the economy.