Ms Caitlin Faye Maniti:

Caitlin Faye Maniti is ainm dom agus tá mé mar uachtarán ar Aontas Daltaí Iar-bhunscoile na hÉireann. I thank the committee for the invitation to present today. The Irish Second-Level students Union, ISSU, is the national representative body for second-levels students in Ireland. One of our core aims is to actively address the challenges and worries faced by students on a local, regional, national and international level. The ISSU is fully committed to working alongside all stakeholders to find solutions to the issues that face students. It is in this spirit that I speak before the committee today.

The study of STEM subjects opens up a variety of different doors for students in progressing to further and higher education. However, we recognise that the opportunities for all students to learn a STEM subject have significant barriers including lack of resourcing and funding, the accessibility of these subjects, and female stereotypes and biases. On the lack of resourcing and funding, newer, smaller subjects such as computer science need to become more mainstream. To do this, we need the infrastructure and teacher supply. Computers and coding are popular among students as hobbies, but to properly support leaving certificate computer science and junior cycle coding, we must look at the bigger picture. To put it simply, we do not have enough teachers available. Students can enter a plethora of different computer science-related competitions from the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition to SciFest to VEX Robotics. However, the majority of students will not get an opportunity to study computer science as a subject because it will not be offered at their school. The ISSU recommends that there be an increase of investments in facilities for carrying out these STEM subjects.

I will address the accessibility of these subjects. The lack of resourcing and funding of these subjects contributes to their inaccessibility. Schools such as DEIS schools in disadvantaged areas and rural schools often suffer the short end of the stick when it comes to funding. The cost of materials needed to facilitate subjects such as technology or graphics may be unattainable for these schools, therefore excluding these cohorts of students from many opportunities and-or reducing the quality of their education. Notably, during Covid, when schools closed due to high cases, teaching and learning reverted to online learning, where students were left behind in their education, in rural areas where broadband and WiFi was inadequate. Since then, the use of technology has significantly increased and schools began using these systems of automation to advance the teaching and learning experience. However, due to the accessibility issues I have outlined, students in these areas are still being left behind.

The ISSU recommends more support for students in rural areas to access digital learning tools by providing infrastructure for students to purchase technological devices, along with improving broadband connections in rural Ireland. The ISSU also recommends an increase in funding and resources for DEIS schools and schools in disadvantaged areas to facilitate STEM subjects.

STEM has been always a typically male dominated field. Currently 73% of workers are male and 27% are female and this attitude is fostered in schools. STEM subjects such as woodwork, metalwork and technology are available only in a select number of schools and the majority of these schools are single-sex, male schools. Even at the early stages of life, girls are not given the opportunity to develop a love for STEM as they do not have the access to study the subjects in school. Female students may attend coeducational schools as they would have more of an opportunity to study these subjects. However, many of them are then exposed to sexism and discrimination due to gender stereotypes and biases. This ultimately discourages female students from joining in and means they are significantly less likely than their male peers to pursue education in STEM. This heavily contributes to the massive barriers to females entering STEM careers. The ISSU recommends the creation of initiatives to encourage female students and ensure they feel welcomed and supported in pursuing practical STEM subjects to leaving certificate level. In order to ensure that educational equity is established, the ISSU further recommends the creation of new initiatives to ensure a long-term impact. Emphasis should be placed on informing and supporting girls’ career and third level education choices. Support should be given to all-girls schools to gain facilities and resources to teach more STEM subjects, notably engineering, metalwork, woodwork, and technology.

The ISSU welcomes the plan to implement the updated subject curricula mentioned in the senior cycle redevelopment publication in relation to the STEM subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. STEM needs to be more relevant to students. Many are just rote learning chemicals and experiments and not actually understanding what it is they are studying. Even laboratory subjects are taught to the exam. Some chemistry students may never perform a titration and can still get a H1 despite this. This is a massive oversight and senior cycle redevelopment presents an opportunity to rectify this and make STEM subjects engaging and relevant for students. The new leaving certificate climate action and sustainable development subject presents a rare opportunity for students to study a fast-evolving science relevant to their daily lives. The ISSU would like to take this opportunity to mention our recommendation for climate science to be included on the course which would further develop young people's passion for STEM.

There is huge potential and demand for an increase in STEM subjects and the current inequalities in these subjects should no longer be tolerated. I thank members for listening and am happy to address any questions they may have.