Instead of criticising maths teachers, industry needs to do more to support them to teach maths in a manner that helps students fully engage with the real-life applications of the subject, according to Director General of Engineers Ireland, John Power
At higher level, 71 per cent of students rate their maths teachers as excellent or good, yet these teachers remain under pressure from all sides. How can engineers better support their efforts?
Speaking as the Leaving Certificate 2010 results indicated that just 16 per cent of students sat the higher level maths paper while 4,300 failed the subject across all levels, the Director General said a more holistic approach was needed to tackle the issues around maths: “While the latest figures indicating that the failure rate in higher level maths has gone up by 5.5 per cent are disappointing, it’s very easy to once again castigate teachers and their ability to teach the subject. Quite clearly, maths teachers must have the requisite expertise to teach maths at all levels.
“But an Engineers Ireland survey last week of Leaving Certificate maths students showed that 71 per cent at higher level rated their maths teacher as excellent or good. This suggests there are a lot of strong teachers out there that have the respect and attention of their students. What is needed to tackle the maths problem is much greater support for maths teachers in the classroom – and this needs to come, not just from Government but from industry and business also.”
He noted: “The preliminary data around Project Maths is encouraging with 18.7 per cent of students taking higher level maths from 24 schools in the pilot programme, compared to 16 per cent among all mathematics candidates. However, it will be two to five years before we have any meaningful data on the initiative and with 41 per cent of ordinary level students in the Engineers Ireland survey last week believing that higher level maths is too time-consuming, what is needed is greater support for teachers. We need to give maths the time it deserves in the classroom.”
Quality not quantity The Director General added: “Bearing in mind the CAO use six subjects, to calculate points for third level courses, there is an argument that students should only take six subjects during school time. This would allow teachers to focus on the key subjects, such as maths, that are integral to students finding jobs on graduating. Let’s focus on quality not quantity. “Engineers Ireland is also currently linking with UCD’s College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences to encourage more engineering students to participate in the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme and assist secondary school maths teachers with the delivery of the maths curriculum. It’s easy to criticise the system but there needs to be more pragmatic initiatives such as this from industry to tackle the maths deficiencies that exist in this country.”
He continued: “In essence, if Ireland is to regain competitiveness on a global scale, we need graduates with the key skills, which means graduates with proficiency in maths. We need to work harder to change the perception of maths at an earlier stage in schools. Engineers Ireland continues to highlight the direct link between the poor standards in maths and the shortage of engineers entering Irish industry. The ‘smart economy’ and the recovery of Ireland Inc. are not viable without enough graduates with the requisite maths skills to become engineers,” added Mr Power.
