An interesting article appeared in last Wednesday's "Journal", see extract here:Irish pupils taught over twice as much religion as OECD average
THE AVERAGE IRISH primary school pupil spends a tenth of their time in religious tuition – over twice the average of other developed countries, a new worldwide study has claimed.The OECD’s ‘Education at a Glance’ report says the average 7 or 8 year old in Ireland spends 10 per cent of their time in primary tuition being taught religion, while the average among the countries surveyed is 4 per cent, and the average among EU countries is 5 per cent.The report says Irish pupils – assuming they are taught the correct number of hours demanded by the Irish primary curriculum – spend only 12 per cent of their time learning maths.The average among developed countries is 18 per cent – with the difference in maths tuition accounted exactly for the amount of time spent on religion.The major report, surveying conditions in 30 of the world’s developed countries, shows that Irish students also spend less time studying technology and practical subjects than their worldwide peers – and less than half of what the average student in another country might spend on Physical Education.This is reflected in the extra time spent on ‘modern foreign languages’ – which in Ireland’s case includes the teaching of the Irish language...The Irish answer to the problem, however, is to distort results with bonus points for maths rather than addressing the poor standards of teaching - many maths teachers are not even properly qualified.
Then there the years of teaching time wasted on nonsense subjects such as religion and Gaeilge. It is no wonder we are producing, yet again, a generation of half-wits whose educational attainments are largely irrelevant to to the needs of the modern world, and even the requirements of Ireland's main private sector employers, as the following report from the Indo (August 16th) contends.
It seems the time spent teaching "modern foreign languages" firmly places the emphasis on Dev's First Official Language rather than modern, living ones..
Fears over skills shortages in key science and language subjects
By Katherine DonnellyThursday August 16 2012STUDENTS may have scored record success in higher-level maths this year -- but now there are worries of possible skills shortgages because of a poor uptake in science subjects and languages at second-level schools.And the situation is expected to get even worse from this year as teacher cuts force schools to consider dropping these key subjects.As the boost to maths performance among this year's Leaving Certificate candidates was celebrated yesterday, the new concerns were highlighted.The 56,000 school-leavers receiving results yesterday included almost 11,000 awarded 25 bonus points for achieving a minimum D grade in maths at higher level......Subjects such as physics and chemistry are also taking on a new importance, with growing demand from employers for graduates with such skills.
And languages are in unprecedented demand among multinational and domestic export companies operating in a global economy.
There has been an ongoing slide in the number of Leaving Certificate students taking physics.
Numbers fell a further 2pc this year to 6,373 -- less than one in eight candidates -- while almost a quarter of schools don't offer it at all...
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