Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, who is present for the debate on this intriguing topic. The word “science” comes from the Latin, scientia, which means knowledge. Nobody could speak in the House against knowledge but sometimes the gap between the hyperbole in terms of what we set out to do and the reality does let us down.

On an Adjournment motion, Senator Clune pointed out mistakes in the leaving certificate and junior certificate maths papers in spite of the fact that maths is a national priority. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, found more because he is an architect. By the end of the session we had found three times as many mistakes in the paper than the number that had been subject to official apology by the State Examinations Commission, which then issued some daft statement to the effect that it was understaffed and that was the reason for the mistakes. Sometimes, we have to take issues seriously. There were faults which this House found. It is evident from the record that the Minister was happy to acknowledge that the Senators found the faults in the leaving certificate examination papers this year. I hope the situation will be remedied.

It seems to me that bonus points for maths rewards people who have a maths teacher in the school but the problem, as the Royal Irish Academy has pointed out, is that many maths teachers in Irish schools have no qualification in maths. The Minister for Education and Skills came to the House to speak about changing teacher training, which became a power struggle between institutions as to who had what teacher training. He was as embarrassed by the situation as anyone else. We did not opt for the model which I believe would have been preferable, namely, that science teachers would be trained in science departments with perhaps a top-up from the higher diploma in education course. It is wrong to just give people the higher diploma in education, which is a widely decried qualification, and say that young people have to face the task of trying to learn science from somebody who is about one page ahead of them in the book.

The abolition of rural science and nature study as a subject in primary schools was a serious mistake.