Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to respond to this matter which asks for a full inquiry into how mistakes were made, particularly in the leaving certificate honours maths paper. The State Examinations Commission has apologised and stated it could have caused stress. It caused a lot of stress and distress. The subject of honours maths has received much attention recently. I have always been a supporter of awarding bonus points for the subject, which is reflected in the uptake of the subject and of related courses at third level, which is very positive and necessary. Honours maths is a difficult subject and this has been acknowledged. It can cause a lot of stress and students are advised to give 15 minutes to each question. The three angles of a triangle in one of the questions did not add up to 360° and this should have been spotted. The fact the solution did not work out would have caused further stress to students. The conditions under which students found themselves were not uniform. The State Examinations Commission has stated the possible impact will be taken into account when completing the marking system. It is very difficult to have a consistent approach.

It is particularly unfortunate this has occurred in the honours maths paper. With the introduction of project maths quite a number of papers must be produced but we should have checks and balances. We need a report so that teachers and students who sit the exam next year can have confidence and we can see what exactly went wrong. It is easy to stand back and examine these issues in the cold light of day but the highly stressed situation of an exam hall must be factored into our reaction to this matter, into examining the papers and into preparing the papers for next year.