40-year-old agricultural science syllabus to be updated

The Leaving Cert agricultural science course is to be updated, following complaints from teachers and the agri-food sector that the syllabus is more than 40 years out of date.

The news was described as "a major development" by Agri Aware, which raises awareness of the agri-food sector and had been lobbying for a modern and relevant syllabus. Some 7,414 students completed the Leaving Cert examination last year.

The current syllabus for the theory exam consists of a few pages, compared with hundreds of pages for subjects such as biology. The agricultural science syllabus has no teacher guidelines while biology has 184 pages of of guidelines. Former Ernst and Young entrepreneur of the year Edmond Harty,who runs Dairymaster, has likened it to trying to teach a computing course with computers that were used in the 1980s.

'Modern practices'
Bill Lynch of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment said plans to revise the syllabus would proceed and a background paper would be prepared for discussion with stakeholders and others. "The background paper will set out the scene for agricultural science as one of the suite of science subjects and it will also explore the changes to agricultural practice and the agricultural industry more generally so that the syllabus being developed can reflect modern practices and experience in farming," he said.

Mr Lynch said a development group would be convened and would be given about 12 to 15 months to prepare a syllabus. “I would expect that a draft syllabus will be ready for consultation in autumn 2015.”

When to introduce the course was a matter for the Department of Education, he said, and would be influenced by factors such as teacher training and the production of books and support materials.

Agri Aware executive director Dr Vanessa Woods said the organisation was delighted with the news. "We will work with our patrons from across the agri-food industry to ensure that the new syllabus reflects current and future industry issues," she said. The news was also welcomed by the Irish Agricultural Science Teachers' Association. Its president Iain Wallace said he hoped the move towards a new syllabus would position teachers to further promote and develop agriculture within education. "The current syllabus has been in place since 1972 and does not reflect the new scientific developments, advancements and technology that have taken place in Irish agriculture over the last 40 years," he said.

Farm walks
Meanwhile, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Tom Hayes will launch Agri Aware's series of farm walks and talks for agricultural science students at Gurteen Agricultural College today. Almost 2,000 students from 70 schools will take part in the walks this year to see farming in practice.