New initiatives urged for science subjects

New training and recruitment measures are urged for trainee science teachers, according to a new statement from the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.

The council has also called for new incentives in order to attract physical sciences graduates to teaching. It also wants a programme of investment in schools' laboratories and an expansion in the range of professional development courses for science teachers.

The call for these changes is made, according to the advisory body on science, "in the context of continuing concern over the falling proportions of Leaving Cert students taking physics and chemistry".

ICSTI urges the Minister for Education and Science to provide special scholarships "for an initial five year period, for graduates of physics and chemistry entering teacher training". It also advocates the introduction of promotional positions such as heads of science, and the provision of special postgraduate courses for teachers "to give them the opportunity to acquire additional qualifications in the teaching of the physical sciences".

"Poor laboratory facilities are a major disincentive to teachers, just as they are to students," ICSTI points out. It asks the Department, which recently completed a survey of school laboratory resources, to publicise the survey "as a baseline against which future improvements can be measured".

Also, it urges "that all second-level schools have designated laboratories and that resources are available to replace equipment as needed".

The council says in its statement which is published in booklet form, entitled Science in Second Level Schools, that "particular incentives are needed to attract graduates (of science, technology and maths) into teaching and, once they have entered the profession, to retain them". According to the statement: "The present range of in-career development courses at third level, for updating teachers' knowledge and skills, and the establishment of a continuing review of teachers' needs for in-career supports are required".

It believes that teachers' assistants should be appointed "to supervise laboratories and computer facilities". Science teachers are often over-burdened with the management of laboratory and technology facilities, according to ICSTI.

According to Dr Ed Walsh, chairman of the ICSTI, "the falling numbers of Leaving Cert students taking physics and chemistry represents a threat to Ireland's ability to develop as a knowledge-based society". He says changes are "urgently needed in the design, delivery and assessment of science courses in order to reverse this decline."

The council's statement is released to coincide with an up-coming conference, Science Education in Crises, tomorrow in the RDS, Dublin. The keynote address at the conference will be delivered by Walsh.