The case for further Leaving Cert incentives

This year some one in four students who took mathematics in the Leaving Cert exam, chose the higher level paper and nearly all – over 95 per cent – passed. They did so, partly to gain the 25 Central Application Office (CAO) bonus points awarded to those who secure an honours grade, and so boost their chances of securing a third level place. The extra points offered for higher maths reflects a recent change in education policy: one designed to raise standards, and to help meet the employment needs of the domestic economy in growth areas, which include science and technology, agriculture and food science.

In the past three years, the number taking higher-level maths has increased by three quarters. However, not everyone who initially chooses higher maths later sits the exam. This year, one in six dropped down to take lower level maths, and for a variety of reasons. Some may have found the course more challenging than anticipated, and may well have feared failing in the subject. This year 4.5 per cent of all higher level maths candidates did fail; twice the 2012 figure. While others, who were concerned to boost their points tally and to improve their chances of qualifying for a third level course, may have decided that focussing on their better subjects was a more effective way of achieving a higher CAO points total.

The political decision to award bonus points for higher maths, as an incentive to encourage students to take it, clearly works. Some years ago, in an attempt to raise the overall standard of Irish and to encourage more to study the language at a higher level, the percentage grade for the oral component of Irish was raised to 40 per cent. This too has resulted in an increasing number taking Irish, with 88 per cent of those (18,134) who sat higher level this year securing an honours mark.

The success of the higher maths experiment has no doubt prompted the Irish Universities Association taskforce to propose further reforms: one is to allocate compensatory points to students who achieve marks below the 40 per cent pass grade in higher level subjects. The Government should also consider extending bonus points to cover science subjects, a move that could boost the number of students choosing to study science at third level.

It should also act on an Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report that has identified a huge social disparity in the transition from secondary to higher education. It found that those from middle class schools were far more likely to apply for third level than those from working class schools; and that students in the latter schools, were far more reliant on career guidance counsellors for advice. Except that with the career guidance service facing cuts, less support will be now available to them, and as a result even fewer students from those schools are likely attend a third level college.