Minister criticised for ‘feminised’ comment

Honours maths in the Leaving Certificate will be a future requirement for entry into teacher training, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn announced yesterday.

While he said the move was aimed at improving the quality of maths teaching, Mr Quinn drew criticism from primary school teachers by linking the issue to the “highly feminised” nature of the profession.

Mr Quinn told the annual conference of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation that evidence-based research had shown “women” who did well in maths at the junior cycle dropped higher level maths because it was not a requirement for initial teacher training.

When delegates responded with some surprise at the announcement, Mr Quinn went on to say that the issue was particularly relevant for “a highly feminised audience and profession”.

The comment caused widespread disapproval among the 750 delegates, and INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan provoked roars and cheers by opening her response to Mr Quinn’s speech with: “Sisters – hell hath no fury”.

'Simple sums'
While Ms Nunan said she was "quite agnostic about honours maths", the "sisterhood" knew well the "simple sums of the primary school are: 30 into 1 teacher doesn't go very easily". As delegates rose to their feet in approval, she continued "46 per cent cuts in assistant principal posts do not make for a good running of schools and 20, 40 and 86 pupils in a 2,3,4 teacher-school ... are not easily divided, so whatever way you multiply it, add it, subtract it, do the Pythagoras theorem, I have one message, Minister, the sum we're looking for is an increase in the money that goes into education".

Ms Nunan added: “It wasn’t the honours maths that made the Irish women the way they are today, let me tell you. It was the boys who did the honours maths led the country to ruination.”

Mr Quinn made his remarks as part of his speech which addressed the “need to continue to ensure that most entrants to initial teacher education come from the top 15 per cent of all leaving certificate students.

'A compliment'
Speaking afterwards, Mr Quinn told reporters his comment was "actually a compliment to young women". More than 80 per cent of primary teachers were women but many had dropped out of higher maths even though they had the ability because it was not a requirement for teacher training. He said he would be "in discussion with the relevant bodies" on the honours maths issue shortly.

On accountability in the profession, Mr Quinn said he agreed with the US academic Diane Ravitch that it should not involve “the heedless destruction of careers, reputations, communities and institutions”. Mr Quinn said his aim was to “validate the excellent work taking place in all schools and which encourages all public servants to strive to achieve more”.

But Ms Nunan said the “failure” to acknowledge the impact of the cuts and the pursuit of a “one-sided reform agenda” were feeding a “corrosive cynicism” which was harming primary education. “We called for progress on every single issue you raised here today and in most cases were the first group to do so,” she told Mr Quinn.

Ms Nunan also warned against the Government using money which could be invested in education, to fund tax cuts. Calling for a “rescue plan” she said the country’s primary school principals are at breaking point.

She said schools were being asked to take on initiatives in literacy and numeracy and tackle bullying. “But there is absolutely no understanding of the lack of support or backup available to principals to lead these duties.” She called for release time from classroom teaching of one day per week to cope with the workload of school administration. “A review of principals’ workload with realisable solutions is a matter of urgency.” She said recovery from “six years of austerity” for primary education depended on investment of key resources.