Sir, – Simon Harris is quoted as saying the Leaving Certificate system “does not prepare a student for life beyond education”. He offers specific criticisms of the current system stating that it “does not teach students about financial literacy, digital skills, sex education, or climate skills”.
This is news to me and, hopefully, my students. There is a large section of financial mathematics on the maths curriculum, which is compulsory for all students in the State.
Computer Studies is now available as a subject for the Leaving Certificate and I enjoyed seeing our first project submitted last year. My unfortunate students have been subjected to years of sex education in my SPHE classes.
On the final charge, I don’t know what counts as a “climate skills”, nor do I know how you would make it a Leaving Certificate subject, but I’m sure this does a great disservice to all the geography teachers in the country.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Furthermore, it is a bit rich of the Minister to tell us the education system is failing our students in this respect when teachers have had to fight for years with the Department of Education to keep geography (and history) as mandatory subjects for the Junior Certificate.
When the people pushing for reform don’t know the very basics of the current system, it doesn’t engender much confidence in their judgment for future planning. – Yours, etc,
DANIEL LYNCH,
Gonzaga College,
Dublin 6.