This year’s Leaving Cert results show that a ‘second-chance’ system should be introduced for maths, to save students who fail the subject from missing out on college, according to local Fine Gael TD, John Paul Phelan.
“As thousands of students across the country received their Leaving Cert results and first round of CAO offers, yet again the most striking trend to emerge is the high failure rate in maths and science,” said Deputy Phelan.
“More than 4,300 students have failed maths, and as a result may lose out on many third level courses.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD praised a number of colleges, including Waterford IT, the University of Limerick and NUIG, who have recently begun to introduce a ‘second chance’ for maths, to allow certain students who have failed the subject to sit it again before the college year. He said such an approach could be considered nationally.
“Figures released to me show that one in five students who studied the higher level course dropped down to pass maths on the day of the exam last year,” said Deputy Phelan.
“But who could blame a student for not taking the risk, if failing honours maths means they would miss out on their desired college course?
“If we are serious about cementing our position as a country that can offer highly skilled graduates, we cannot ignore this problem. The number of students taking the subject at higher level has been consistently falling in recent years. We need to reverse this trend.”
