I am somewhat taken aback by the reaction to the Leaving Certificate results. The failure rates in the maths and science subjects, coupled with the supposed lower performance, should have come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the subject in recent times.
The reason I say no surprise is that it has been blindingly obvious, given the recent the grade inflation furore, that the backlash would come in the form of a heavy handed response that would see students marked down in the next round of exams.
And what happened? There was a sudden increase in failures, a lower apparent performance overall and a national outcry over the poor performance of our students. Has everyone lost the plot here?
Can anyone honestly say that this is a true reflection of the performance of the students as opposed to the exam administration body covering its arse? I think not.
I argued many moons ago that the poor performance of many students in maths and science when they hit college was as a result of the conditioning for the points race in the Leaving Certificate. These people were simply playing the game as had been set out for them, and winning. Now, winning meant a huge points haul but a poor skill set to actually learn in third level. Adapting to the circumstance, many of these students were able to play the third level system in much the same way and graduate with what looked like reasonable result but again, poor understanding and even worse practice.
The problem then remains, that the system at second level is design to get people through the Leaving Certificate and not to teach them. They are learning the equivalent of jumping through hoops instead of understanding their subjects and being able to put what they have learned into practice.
If the current Helen Lovejoy reaction does any good, it will be to focus on a system that does not promote learning and change it to one that teaches instead of simply imparting a set of facts and figures to be regurgitated in the manner of a gannet feeding its young.
However, speaking of gannets, the Minister for Education has confirmed that the current points system will remain in place as it is the fairest way of selecting candidates for third level education.
Well I don’t know about you, but that certainly makes me want to regurgitate.
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