The report of the Task Force on the Physical Sciences is an impressive document which highlights the fall-off in student interest in the sciences and the wider implications for the economy. As its chairman, Dr Daniel O'Hare, notes "unless there is a major national effort to reverse the fall-off, any other money we spend on attracting overseas investment will go largely to waste".
The figures quoted in the report are depressing in an economy which portrays itself at being at the cutting edge of innovation and technology. Last year, only 12 per cent of Leaving Certificate students opted for chemistry and only 16 per cent took physics. Take-up in the sciences at third level is also in decline.
The report acknowledges that the problem is a multi-faceted one. No single action, it says, can reverse the decline. In truth, we can scarcely be surprised at the current state of affairs. The attempts to stimulate interest in science - via science museums and the like - has been negligible. Science is only now being introduced to the primary school curriculum, a quarter of a century after it was first mooted. Laboratory conditions in many schools often appear to breach health and safety standards. There is a perception, acknowledged in the report, that science at Junior Certificate level can be boring. At Leaving Certificate, there is still no practical assessment and, as the report highlights, it is much harder to achieve high grades in the sciences than in other subjects.
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The report makes several useful recommendations. Among other things, it wants to speed up the curriculum reform process, it wants equitable grading of science subjects and upgrading of labs in all schools. The Task Force wants better teaching training, the introduction of science into transition year studies and science as a core subject at Junior Certificate level. It is clear the Task Force team is impatient for action. On past evidence, there is little reason to be hopeful. As Senator Feargal Quinn acknowledged this week, achieving change in the education area can be very difficult. But, in this instance, the Government has no choice but to use the report as a catalyst for substantial change. As Dr O'Hare comments "what is at stake is the ability of our young economy to continue to grow".