Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

286. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions his Department is taking to promote STEM third level education among female secondary level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13236/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This Government is committed to building upon our provision of STEM education in primary, post-primary and third level education in order to ensure that we have the graduates to fulfil the existing and growing needs in STEM.  Innovation 2020 - the Government’s five-year strategy on research and development, science and technology, has the goal of making Ireland a global innovation leader, and by so doing, ensuring a strong and sustainable economy.

My Department's Action Plan for Education for 2016-2019 and the National Skills Strategy contain a clear commitment to supporting and developing STEM.

The STEM report published in November of last year by the STEM Education Review Group presents a detailed examination of the provision of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education in Ireland.  It focussed on schools and on the necessary capacity building required to achieve a step-change in outcomes for learners that will benefit our society and the economy.

The recommendations proposed by the STEM Education Review Group are consistent with many existing and planned initiatives.  They add considerable value to our thinking and will influence significantly the development (in the first half of 2017) of a STEM Education Policy Statement and implementation plan. This will further support teaching and learning in Science and Mathematics at all levels of the education system.

A sustained system-wide focus on the implementation of actions to support numeracy as proposed in the National Strategy: Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life 2011-2020, informed by the interim review of the Strategy which I published on the 14 March 2017.

Within our school system, STEM education is growing, while new initiatives will continue to support greater participation and improved performance in STEM.  My Department is committed to curricular reform in relation to STEM, for example:

- Introduction of computer science subject at senior cycle in September 2019

- Introduction of new Science Syllabus for Junior Cycle in September 2016

- Development of a new primary mathematics curriculum which will support all children in the development of algorithmic and computational thinking to include coding

- New Science specification has been introduced for junior cycle students

- Junior Cycle mathematics specification to be published in 2017 and implemented in 2018.

Female participation in STEM remains an area for concern.  There are significant gender differences in the selection of science subjects at Leaving Certificate.  However, while girls studied STEM in fewer numbers than boys in the Leaving Certificate they performed at the same level if not better than their peers.  It is hoped that the encouraging trends in maths, biology and chemistry will continue, and that we will see an increase in the numbers of girls taking the higher level paper in physics, engineering and the technology subjects.

Continued support by my Department of initiatives and programmes which promote female participation in STEM at primary and post-primary school such as I-Wish, the Smart Futures initiative, managed by Science Foundation Ireland which promotes STEM-related careers to both males and females and Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Gender Strategy which sets a target of 30% female award holders within SFI’s portfolio by 2020.

The action plan for education commits as one of priority actions to addressing the gender imbalance in relation to STEM. We are committed to working to remove the obstacles which have so far served to limit the involvement of young women in the STEM area. 

Minister Halligan and I announced yesterday (20 March) additional funding of €2.25 million to boost ICT skills development and additional summer camps for second level students being developed, as well as up to 700 additional places on ICT.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) will write to higher education institutions to seek proposals for three calls

- additional ICT summer camps for second level students

- Additional undergraduate places on core level 8 full-time courses

- A call for full-time 9 MSc computing courses.