Science facilities at second-level are to be assessed in a national survey to be sent to schools this month by the Department of Education and Science. A forerunner to this survey has just been completed in which laboratories in 16 schools were surveyed.

The national survey comes on foot of the low participation rates of students in science subjects at Leaving Cert level. The ASTI is concerned at the "serious decline" in the number of students taking physics and chemistry at Leaving Cert level. It says the Department must ensure that all second-level schools are provided with up-to-date science laboratories and equipment so that all students have access to practical work.

According to John White, deputy general secretary of the union, a survey carried out by Lansdowne Market Research shows that, of 365 second-level schools surveyed, only 182 have a biology laboratory, 201 have a chemistry lab and 208 have a physics lab.

Nine out of 10 second-level schools have no science laboratory technicians, he says. "It undermines our efforts to ensure that school laboratories are safe for students and teachers," says White.

"It's important for the success of the new science course at Leaving Cert that schools have the necessary equipment to do to practical work, which is such an integral part of the course," says White. In chemistry the numbers taking the subject have declined in ten years from over 10,000 to over 7,000. "It's a drop which means that only 11 per cent of all Leaving Cert students are now sitting chemistry, which is down from one in five in 1987," says White. In the same 1987 - 1997 period the numbers taking the Leaving Cert increased by 17 per cent while employment in pharmaceuticals and chemical manufacturing sector grew by 85 per cent.

The ASTI wants an increased investment in appropriate staffing and facilities to be made a priority in budgetary provision next year.