Galway ideally placed to provide link between classroom and industry practice to improve Maths and Science teaching

Speaking today in the Seanad, Fine Gael Seanad Education Spokesperson, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, said the issues relating to the poor uptake of maths and science subjects must be addressed if our economy is to thrive into the future. She was responding in particular to the new UL report highlighting that almost half the nation’s maths teachers (48%) do not have maths to degree level.

Little wonder we have a poor record of exam results and low take-up of Maths at Honours Leaving Cert (16%) when half of our teachers don’t have the necessary competencies to teach the subject. This lack of competence is bound to affect their confidence and rub off on their pupils. Worse still teachers without Maths qualifications tend to end up teaching Maths up to Junior Cert level which is the critical time to nurture positive attitudes and abilities to Maths. The Minister for Education must address this Maths teaching deficit immediately with appropriate upskilling and post grad courses for in-service teachers. The current sorry state of Maths teaching is akin to a music teacher teaching an insrument without being able to play it themselves.

Currently only c.30% of Junior Certificate Students achieve an A or B in honours maths. With numbers like this we are starting from too low a base if we want to increase the numbers taking honours maths at leaving cert level. This is where the problem lies and it is at this pre-Junior Cert level that our young students need to be turned onto Maths. Our nation needs it. Interestingly, this report points to a direct relationship between teachers without a maths qualification and their teaching at pre-junior cert level. New in-service training needs to be aimed at those teaching pupils in the first to third year in the fiirst instance.

Generally, a new model of teacher in-service education is needed in the maths and sciences which addresses current deficits but more importantly brings the subject alive and turns students onto these subjects. It is my strong feeling that a new type of in-service training for teachers, which would provide a link between classroom practice and industry practice in the Maths & Sciences, be introduced. For example, there are new advances in the teaching of maths which the Colleges can provide courses in for practising teachers to include new understandings of eg. financial maths, maths in engineering, maths in business, insurance etc. NUI Galway has indicated a strong willingness to do this. It is unique in that it provides a new undergraduate degree which turns out 25 graduates per year in Maths. These are ideal graduates to be attracted into teaching. In the Sciences, there is a cluster of wonderful medical device manufacturing companies in Galway, who would welcome teachers to observe Science in action in the workplace. Covidien indicated this last week at their recent exhibition. I suggest that teachers would be released one day a month or a few hours every month so that they could observe industry practice. Similarly, Intel has been enthusiastic in its support for the ‘IT revolution.’

“A key adviser to Barack Obama, Dr. Craig Barrett, the former Chief Executive Officer of Intel said that Ireland’s education system needs to do better if the economy is to compete on a world stage. The area of learning he flagged is that of maths and science. He spoke about setting our educational sights high and aiming to be the first, rather than average, our current rating in international standards (PISA, 2006) in maths and science. The Government and the nation should be looking to the needs of the knowledge and innovation economy and deciding how to serve those needs.