ASTI CONFERENCE:AN UNPUBLISHED Department of Education audit of school admission policies has shown that some schools are refusing to take their "fair share" of students with special educational needs, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin indicated yesterday.
In a wide-ranging address to delegates at the ASTI conference, Ms Hanafin also announced a major reform of the way in which maths is taught at Leaving Certificate level, in a measure aimed at increasing take-up at higher level by students.
It will be piloted from this September with a view to making it mainstream in schools from September 2010.
Commenting on the department's unpublished audit of approximately 1,900 primary and second-level schools, Ms Hanafin said it confirmed the "anecdotal knowledge we had picked up".
The department has surveyed schools to examine the number of special needs students they admit, as well as the number of students who enter from Traveller and foreign national backgrounds.
While she did not expand further on this, Ms Hanafin has in the past expressed concern about the possibility that students may not be able to obtain places in certain schools.
However, it is understood that she does not intend to publish the results of the audit, despite calls from some teacher leaders for her to do so.
She is believed to be concerned that its publication could lead to the compilation of so-called "league tables" of schools.
On the issue of reform of Leaving Certificate mathematics, Ms Hanafin said she had accepted the "broad thrust" of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment's (NCCA) proposals for reform of the subject.
"Teachers will be given intensive curriculum support and training in advance of mainstream implementation and the exams for each strand will also be changed on a phased basis rather than a big bang in one year," she said.
The measures aim to address ongoing concerns about the take-up of higher level maths at Leaving Certificate. Ms Hanafin expressed the hope that the reforms would improve the mathematical and problem-solving abilities of young people, and would better prepare students for careers in science, technology and engineering in particular.
The planned new curriculum would involve five different strands, with the focus on making the subject more relevant to areas such as business or science which are of interest to individual students.
She said that she expects to receive proposals from the NCCA later in the year on reform of the senior cycle science programmes.
Elsewhere, Ms Hanafin defended the Government's record when it came to funding of education, amid strong criticism from delegates earlier in the day.
On the issue of school discipline, she said she had amended Section 29 of the Education Act in relation to suspensions and expulsions of students, with a view to bringing "back the balancing of rights".
In his address to the conference, Prof Tom Collins of NUI Maynooth said he believed the State should commit to providing 7 per cent of its gross national product to funding education. This would mirror the levels spent in countries such as the US, he said.