The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, has expressed general satisfaction with this year's Leaving Cert grades. However, the Government, he said, would continue its efforts to make the education system more responsive to the needs of industry.
Dr Woods said that when one factored in the decline in the numbers taking the Leaving Cert this year, the results were broadly similar to previous years. He told The Irish Times that the fall-off in student interest in certain subjects could also be exaggerated because of the fall-off of over 3 per cent in the numbers taking the exam.
He said his Department as part of a regular three-year exercise would now review the Leaving Cert exams in history, maths and a range of other subjects. This was unrelated to the high failure rate at ordinary level in both subjects.
Dr Woods, a chemistry graduate, expressed disappointment at the poor take-up in some science subjects. He hoped the various Government initiatives, including the recent £15 million package to develop science in schools, would have a real impact.
Asked about the difficulty in attracting some science graduates to teaching, he said a move towards British-style "hello money" to entice them into teaching was not under discussion here.
Dr Woods stressed that while there was still some way to go to make education relevant to the workplace, we should not detract from our educational achievements. Employers were very happy with the Leaving Cert as it denoted a very good broad-based education and a good educational standard.