Open letter: The new Leaving Certificate specification will massively harm Irish maths education.
The Government should withdraw the proposed specification, and start the process afresh, with mathematical experts centre-stage in the decision-making process.
Under the proposals, 40% of students’ Leaving Cert maths marks would come from a subjective and non-mathematical assessment of their performance at a one-day ‘event’. This alone would degrade the rigour and reputation of the qualification.
The draft curriculum effectively guts the content of Leaving Cert maths. Statistics will not be examined; complex numbers and geometric proofs will not be taught at all. The topics that remain have been watered down. Where today students are taught to solve open-ended problems, we expect they will instead be asked merely to double-check answers given to them by examiners.
Two expert members of the subject-matter committee have already resigned, refusing to stand over the draft specification, and alleging serious problems with the process followed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. Potentially critical consultation responses were kept secret, documents were not circulated, and experts’ discussions and decisions were not recorded.
The Government should take action:
- The published draft specification must not be progressed. The documents must be withdrawn from consultation.
- The rule that 40% of marks will come from non-exam assessment must be lifted for maths. This was a blanket political commitment made for all subjects, before any consultation with mathematical experts; it does not make sense for maths.
- We suggest a new mathematics subject group be set up under s. 30(3)(b) of the Education Act 1998 with a much greater presence of expert mathematicians and independent of the NCCA, with direct input into the new draft specification.
We are a group of mathematicians, technologists, educators and others, who are deeply concerned about this plan and what it means for the future of Ireland. Two of us, Peter McLaughlin and Sam Enright, have written up their thoughts in more detail in an an article published by The Fitzwilliam. Views are expressed in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect our employers’.