Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank everyone for their contributions. There is a lot there and it is quite specific, which is good for us when we are putting our report together.

It could be divided into two, in the sense that one is about access to STEM subjects and then the second bit is about the issues around their delivery in schools. In terms of the access piece, Mr. Convey referred to co-educational schools. Having better resources there is one thing, but I am also quite conscious that when it comes to a 12-year-old, he or she has to choose a subject, usually based on his or her previous experience. That goes to his point about people not understanding what technology and engineering are. That is the case even when it comes to science because there has been limited availability of science in primary school. They know what art and music are, but they do not know what this STEM thing is. That is the challenge. I hope that the primary-school curriculum will change some of that, but is there more that can be done?

The second point Mr. Jones raises was about the delivery, which is concerning. I have looked at science papers for junior certificate, and they do seem to be quite vague compared with my day when I did chemistry and biology for leaving certificate. It is quite difficult for a student to know what is being asked and how to excel at that, and for someone who is very good at a STEM area to show that he or she knows what is being asked of him or her. That is a matter of concern being raised by so many science teachers. It is not just about the junior certificate paper or the leaving certificate paper: it is more fundamental throughout the course.

My final point is for Mr. Duffy on the question of CBAs. I am interested in that because we do want to move to a model that has more continuous assessment. Is he saying that it is not as suitable for maths or that it needs to be delivered in a different way? I know that is not all he is saying, but there is limited time and so many of the excellent points he raised were fundamental.

I see maths as a language. I do not believe people necessarily look at it like that. Sometimes people who are good at languages are also good at maths because it is something that is codified. It is not taught like that, so it is quite scary. I mean the curriculum is not like that, so it can be quite scary. Those are my first questions to the witnesses.