In an unprecedented move, Department of Education inspectors have expressed concern about a sharp decline in standards in maths at Leaving Cert at both honours and ordinary level.
A report published yesterday from the chief inspector in the subject says there has been "a noticeable slippage over a relatively short period of time in the quality of work" being presented by higher-level candidates.
The chief inspector also recommends many students now taking ordinary level maths should take the less-challenging foundation level. These findings will accelerate Government efforts to address the "crisis in maths".
Earlier this month, a report compiled largely by maths teachers at third level complained that many higher-level maths students had little basic understanding of the subject.
The maths syllabus for the Leaving Cert is under review by a Department of Education advisory group.
In recent weeks, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has expressed her alarm at the falling standards in maths.
Last year, over 12 per cent - close to 4,500 students - failed ordinary-level maths. A further 5,000 took foundation-level maths, which is not recognised by many third-level colleges.
Fewer than one in five Leaving Cert students take higher-level maths, and a further 11 per cent take the foundation-level exam. In contrast, some 60 per cent take higher-level English. The Republic fails to make the top 10 OECD states in maths standards for average 15-year-olds.
Reviewing the higher-level paper, the chief inspector says students "appear to be less comfortable than before" with the basics in algebra. He also says "examiners have been commenting on a noticeable decline in the capacity of candidates to engage with problems that are not of a routine and well-rehearsed type.
"Whereas in the relatively recent past it was common to see two, three, or more attempts at a problem with which a candidate was struggling, it is now more common to see the work abandoned after the first attempt fails to yield rapid success."
At ordinary level, the chief inspector says many candidates did not even attempt the required number of questions. He adds: "Presentation of work in the scripts is sometimes of a very poor quality and displays undisciplined working techniques."
Many candidates, he says, are "clearly unsuited to studying this syllabus and should have taken the foundation-level examination.
"It would appear that students are more content to follow an ordinary-level syllabus from which they are deriving little educational benefit, than to follow what would clearly be a far more suitable and rewarding syllabus at foundation level."
He says many ordinary-level candidates have "inadequate understanding of mathematical concepts and an . . . inability to apply familiar techniques in anything but the most familiar of contexts and presentations".
