Sir, – The institutes of technology cannot keep accepting students with lower and lower points and expect the impossible of them or indeed the lecturing staff. This needs to be balanced by offering pathways to assist all students to develop their potential in an inclusive manner, but this will not be achieved by a “one size fits all” model.
The sector needs to accept that it will take students more time to complete their third-level education if they come in with significantly lower points.
What appears to have occurred in recent years is that the reverse has actually happened, and that there has been considerable pressure in the sector to reduce solid five-year pathways to degrees to four-year courses, and so on.
This is particularly important for degree courses with a high mathematical requirement or content. It takes significant time and effort to develop mathematical skills and competencies in students who do not enter with higher maths, for instance, and many of our students fall into this category. This reality has to be recognised by the sector and students need to be given sufficient time and space to catch up. This requires resources and government funding.
Otherwise, in the long term, standards will fall, and students will themselves be overly pressurised. That is not in anyone’s best interests, not least those of the students. – Yours, etc,
Dr CORA STACK,
Lecturer in Mathematics,
Institute of Technology,
Tallaght,Dublin 24.
Sir, – I would not worry too much about maths at third level, particularly in the institute of technology sector. Students will not be spending much time at it anyway. It seems now in many colleges the students only have 24 weeks of class contact compared to 32 a few years ago.
I’m sure that must improve outcomes and standards greatly. – Yours, etc,
ALEC QUINN,
Limerick.