Sir, – Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, has said there has to be a drive to reform of the secondary school system, in particular to address the subject of mathematics, expressing hope that a new maths syllabus, project maths, could address the problem.
Mr Quinn’s haste is perfectly understandable. The number of students taking Higher Level mathematics has been falling since 2009, with the number of A1s achieved at this level in 2011 at its lowest point in the past three years (5.7 per cent). The number of students taking higher level courses in the other core subjects is substantially higher. 74 per cent more students took Higher Level Irish than took Higher Level Maths and a whopping 298 per cent more students took Higher Level English than took Higher Level Maths in 2011.
Project Maths was piloted in 24 schools before a phased national rollout commenced in September 2010. This phasing will continue until the new syllabuses have been implemented across the entire second-level sector. This initiative involves a complete overhaul of how mathematics is taught and assessed in Irish secondary schools, incorporating dramatic changes to what students learn, how they learn it and how they are assessed in mathematics.
Efforts at innovation and reform should certainly not be discouraged, but it is imperative they are accompanied by rigorous evaluation in order to accurately judge the benefits and costs associated with a particular scheme or project. The consequence of ignoring such steps could be inadequate or ineffective courses of study and poorly prepared students.
There are no shortcuts in the development of competent, educated citizens. Before establishing this programme, the Department of Education and Science should have commissioned a scientific evaluation in order to answer the pressing policy questions related to such a dramatic overhaul of our second-level schools.
Until we can definitively and fairly test the effectiveness of Project Maths, I urge Minister for Education to halt the national rollout. – Yours, etc,