Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. If the reply I give is not fully complete, I will come back to her in writing subsequently.

Project Maths began as a pilot in 24 schools in 2008 and is being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. It was mainstreamed from September 2010 when it became available to all schools. The first mainstream examinations were for this year's leaving certificate students and the first group of students presenting for the junior certificate will be next year, 2013.

The introduction of Project Maths has been accompanied by a national programme of professional development for all maths teachers, not just those in the project schools, and this will continue until at least 2013. The Project Maths development team has provided extensive support to teachers. Provision of approximately €2 million has been made available within my Department for the development of a postgraduate course for what are known as "out of field" teachers who are currently teaching maths. This is based on an intake of 390 teachers.

A key objective of Project Maths is to improve attainment levels in maths and to encourage more students to take the subject at higher level. The participation in higher level maths was down from a high of 18.9% in 2005 to 15.8% in 2011. To encourage more students to present at higher level, there will be 25 bonus points available for all candidates who score grade D3 or above for higher level maths in the leaving certificate from this summer. Higher education institutions have collectively agreed to operate this bonus points scheme for higher level maths for a four year trial period from 2012 to 2015 inclusive, with a review in 2014.

Data from the State Examinations Commission highlight that for the 2011 leaving certificate examinations there were 9,950 candidates entered, with 7917 sitting the examination. This year, there has been an increase to 12,510 candidates entered, an increase of approximately 25%. I look forward to finding out how many of these entrants will present and I hope the majority will do so.

Comments and observations regarding the leaving certificate maths exam papers are an intrinsic part of the feedback the State Examinations Commission would normally expect to receive in any year. The well-tried methodology in place to deal with issues that arise in the course of the examination process is the development of the marking scheme by the chief examiner and his college of examiners in light of the circumstances of that year's examination. Following a tendering process, the National Foundation for Educational Research was awarded the contract to conduct research into the impact of Project Maths on student motivation, learning and achievement. Its work is ongoing.

I emphasise that the skills that are promoted through Project Maths are sought after by employers and the introduction of the revised syllabus has been welcomed by Forfás, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, Engineers Ireland and industry interests.

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