Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has given any consideration to concerns raised by certain professors that project maths is damaging not only to mathematics but to engineering, technology and the sciences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39361/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I have asked the National Council for Curriculum to advise on this matter and I expect a detailed response very shortly.

In addition, formal in-depth research on the impact of Project Maths is ongoing. Following a tendering process, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was awarded a contract to conduct research into the impact of Project Maths on student motivation, learning and achievement in the initial 24 schools who were engaged in the project since September 2008 and all the other post-primary schools where syllabus change commenced in September 2010.

The student-focused research design has two components:

Part One focuses on testing students' mathematical performance in areas significant to Project Maths, and on exploring their attitudes towards mathematics.

Part Two uses analysis of students' work and detailed case studies to develop a data-rich picture of mathematics teaching and learning.

In relation to Part Two, the case study sample schools have been selected and the research is scheduled to begin in these schools shortly.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he examined the latest international survey by the OECD entitled Education at a Glance, which highlights the fact that the proportion of time spent on teaching maths and science here is below the EU average; the action he will take to bring teaching practices here more in line with the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39362/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, Education at a Glance uses 2010 data for this part of the report. In mid-2011, I launched the National Strategy to improve Literacy and Numeracy among children and young people 2011 to 2020. One of the early actions implemented under the Strategy was to ask all primary schools to increase the time spent on mathematics by 70 minutes per week from January 2012. At post-primary, in September 2011, post primary schools were asked to make every effort to ensure that students have access to a mathematics lesson every day, particularly in junior cycle, from the earliest possible date; that mathematics be strengthened in Transition Year, where available; and that every effort should be made, insofar as is possible, to deploy teachers who hold a qualification in mathematics to mathematics teaching.

In relation to science, the primary curriculum emphasises that all aspects of the child's development are interrelated and the developmental process is interactive and complex. Science is addressed not just through science but also through other curricular-related areas, for example, geography and mathematics. At post-primary level, I am currently considering detailed implementation arrangements for a revised Junior Cycle. Science will continue to play an important role in the new Junior Cycle.