“Honours maths students will not be awarded bonus points for taking the high level paper in this year’s Leaving Cert exam. Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has given a comprehensive rebuttal to repeated calls for the subject to get special treatment. Mr O’Keeffe said it would be unfair and counterproductive to single out higher level maths or another subject, in this way. The employers body IBEC argues that bonus points would result in a greater uptake of the subject and ultimately lead more students into careers in new technology and science, where there are skill shortages. They insist that the reintroduction of bonus points, which were removed in 1990s, will offer a short-term solution to the worrying fall in numbers selecting science …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 23 February]