Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his policy on making science a compulsory subject at junior certificate level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11027/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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88.9% of junior cycle students sat science in the junior certificate examinations in 2011. The main challenge relates to the low proportions who take the physical sciences, physics and chemistry, in senior cycle.

In the context of junior cycle reform, which will begin implementation on a phased basis from 2014 onwards, all of the existing subjects are being continued, and Irish (except where there is an exemption), English and Mathematics will remain core full subjects. Schools will also have the option of providing locally developed short courses of 100 hours, supported by exemplars developed by the NCCA.

All students will be required to achieve 24 statements of essential learning as part of their programme. These include describing, illustrating, interpreting, predicting and explaining patterns and relationships, developing an understanding of the natural world, and understanding the distribution of social, economic and environmental phenomena. It will be a matter for schools to determine, from the range of subjects and short courses on offer, how these statements of learning will be met.

Overall, I am in favour of leaving the decisions on what is offered at the discretion of the school, and of students having as broad a range of options to choose from as possible. Good and enthusiastic science teachers have the opportunity to inspire a real interest in their subject and so ensure that pupils will want to sit the exam.

It is particularly important that we ensure the reforms address the needs of those who are currently least served by the system, and that the changes do not lead to an erosion of the practical or vocationally oriented subjects in schools. Curricular choice has been shown to be an important factor in strengthening retention rates to completion of senior cycle in school.