Second-year students in secondary schools have rated languages as the subjects they wish they had never taken and Irish as the least popular and impractical subject, according to an Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report published yesterday.
Students' level of dissatisfaction and disengagement with languages such as Irish, French and German was yesterday identified as an area of priority concern by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), following the publication of the ESRI report on the experiences of second-year students.
Some 32 per cent of the 900 students surveyed listed Irish as their least-favourite subject, while 22 per cent of second-year students in lower-stream classes did not study Irish at all.
Irish and French were also identified as the most difficult subjects, followed by science and maths. When they were asked to list six subjects they wished they could have avoided, Irish, German and French emerged.
Peter Johnson of the NCCA said the council had undertaken a review of the languages over the last 18 months and had identified varying levels of success and ability among native and non-native speakers. He signalled the council would in future consider the possibility of introducing two different syllabuses for the teaching of Irish in order to cater for the variety of ability among students.
The practice of "streaming" students according to their academic ability was also criticised by the NCCA yesterday.
The ESRI report concluded streaming does not benefit students in the lower streams and has a negative impact on their academic performance. It found students in lower streams are more likely to be male and working class.
"If a student is in the bottom stream, the school would expect you to take subjects at foundation level . . . There is little expectation that you will ever take a higher-level subject," said Mr Johnson. He added the use of streaming as opposed to mixed ability hinders students' chances of obtaining sufficient points in the Leaving Certificate.
The ESRI report noted the emergence of a "gender gap" during second year. Female students were found to be more positive towards school and tended to intensify academic engagement.
In contrast, males experienced more negative interaction with teachers and were less likely to intensify their engagement.