Today is a stressful one in thousands of households throughout the State as students receive their Leaving Certificate results. The good news is that most students have done well. The number of students securing honours in many of the most popular subjects - such as Irish, biology and business - has increased.
Some will see this as evidence of the exams becoming easier; certainly the increase in the honours rate over the past decade is striking. But Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is correct to remind us that most students have never worked so hard for the Leaving Cert. She posed a pertinent question: how many parents studied so diligently when preparing for their own exams?
For all that, this year's results underline some unwelcome trends. Failure rates at honours level in maths and science subjects remain stubbornly high. Almost one-in-five students who sat ordinary level biology, the science subject of choice for the vast majority of students, failed the exam. The pattern in maths is equally depressing. Some 12 per cent of students failed the ordinary level paper. The overall failure rate for maths - when results at higher, ordinary and foundation level are combined - is close to 10 per cent.
Behind these raw statistics is the unpalatable reality that thousands of students may be ineligible for many third-level courses where maths is a requirement. The reality sits uneasily also with the Government's efforts to position the Republic at the cutting edge of the new "knowledge society". The results demonstrate the very high standards attained by a few in maths and the sciences. But the overall impression - and one confirmed by the most recent OECD data - is that the Republic is under-performing in these key areas.
Some progress has been made. Leaving Cert (and Junior Cert) science courses have been updated. From now on, there will be a greater focus on project and practical work. The old bookish approach is giving way to one designed to convey the excitement of the subject. Similar revision is urgently required in maths, as a key advisory group to the Minister has confirmed. A discussion paper from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is critical of a Leaving Cert maths course which lacks excitement and is unduly difficult. It would like to see a new, more practical approach which engages students.
There is much to be done. Standards need to be raised in maths and science. There is a sense that huge swathes of students are opting out of these core disciplines at higher level. Only about one-in-nine students takes higher level physics and chemistry. The take-up in higher level maths is very disappointing: 11 per cent compared to about 60 per cent who take the higher English paper.
Against this background, the NCCA proposals on maths make good sense. But, as the council itself makes clear, improving matters may take some considerable time.