MATHEMATICS

OVERVIEW
Figure 2 Numbers sitting physics, chemistry and biology by gender (Leaving Certificate 2013).
Reprinted from State Examinations Statistics by State Examinations Commission (SEC). Retrieved from
https://examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=st&sc=r13
Apart from written questions in examinations, none of the current Leaving Certificate Science
syllabi includes assessment of practical work. The Science syllabi, however, do include
mandatory experiments that must be written up in laboratory notebooks that must be available
for inspection.
There are four Leaving Certificate Technology subjects: Engineering, Construction Studies,
Technology, and Design and Computer Graphics. Each of these subjects is offered at two levels,
Higher and Ordinary. As well as there being very low total numbers of students taking these
subjects, there is a strong gender imbalance as can be seen from Fig. 3 below. For example, the
data for the 2014 Leaving Certificate yields the following percentages:
STEM EDUCATION IN THE IRISH SCHOOL SYSTEM
Subject % of total Of those taking each subject:
Table 3 Numbers of candidates taking Leaving Certificate Technology subjects.
% Girls % Boys
Engineering 9.6 5.3 94.7
Construction studies 15.6 7.3 92.7
Technology 2.0 25.9 74.1
Design and Communication Graphics 9.9 10.9 89.1
Reprinted from State Examinations Statistics by State Examinations Commission (SEC). Retrieved from
https://www.examinations.ie
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