A chara, – So, on average, 13 per cent of OECD teenagers are high achievers in maths compared to 7 per cent of Irish pupils (Home News, July 4th).
Were class size, resources, investment or training considered as factors? One could conclude that, on average, Irish teachers produce approximately the same number of high achievers, per class, as our OECD neighbours, with fewer resources and more pupils. Of course, that’s just a simplistic view that could be extrapolated from the figures. Did we really need a National Competitiveness Council discussion paper to tell us something that has been reappearing on the educational agenda for 40 years?
Project Maths and even more extra points are doomed to failure. Children’s attitudes to maths are well and truly formed long before they reach Leaving Certificate age. It is in the primary schools that this issue needs to be tackled. – Is mise,