Reports today announced the minister for education Mary Coughlan has submitted a letter to leading colleges asking them to admit students who fail honours Maths at leaving certificate level. Her opinion is that the present system discourages students from attempting the honours paper in fear of failing and that an E in honours is equivalant to a pass at the very least in an ordinary paper.
I’ve tried to defend her action to friends for discussion purposes but I struggle badly. I can see the need to encourage students to maintain an honours subject as long as possible. It stretches a students ability and ultimately helps if/when the inevitable drop in paper occurs. If we also reduce the dependency on honours Maths as a college level course requirement better suited, albeit not better educated students gain college places that would otherwise go to students who have selected these because ‘they got the points’.
However I can’t help but feel it is a step backwards. As George Hook said we have become a nation that constantly looks for the safety net instead of pushing ourselves to be the best we can be. Leaving aside the fact our CAO system is flawed (a later blog to arrive on this I promise), we are saying to students that if you can’t meet the requirements to get into this course, we’ll see what we can do for you. Where does this stop? Will 2012 students be told to forget about Irish and who knows, 2014 ignoring English since we all have spellcheck now anyway? (ironically mine has just frozen as I write this!!)
The minister needs not to look at the colleges but at teachers. Primary school and secondary Maths teachers should shoulder a greater responsibility for the poor condition of a students maths ability. I watched a great documentary on UK primary school teachers struggles with teaching math, some of whom failed tests aimed at 5th and 6th year primary students. Out of the 150 teachers who sat the test only one achieved full marks and regrettably I imagine this is replicated in Irish schools.
The college system is not to blame. They set a target and targets are good. We as teachers need to do more to guide our students through their difficult subjects and push them to achieve greater goals. Save your ink Minister and begin work here.
