Decision to cut time spent teaching maths is criticised [Independent.ie]
- Published: 26 April 2011
PRIMARY school pupils must spend more time learning maths, a teachers' leader said last night.
Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) president Jim Higgins said the decision to reduce the time allocated to maths 10 years ago should be reviewed.
It would be one of the ways of tackling the worrying fall in Ireland's standards in numeracy, he told the annual conference of the INTO.
Irish 15-year-old students' place in world rankings on maths proficiency dropped from 16th to 26th between 2006 and 2009, according to the most recent OECD/PISA survey
Mr Higgins said primary teachers would respond to the challenge of raising standards in numeracy and literacy, which also experienced a dramatic fall in the international league table, from fifth to 17th place.
But he told Education Minister Ruairi Quinn he also had to give a commitment to support teachers by resourcing modern classrooms and providing more training.
There was a real need to improve the quality of maths textbooks and develop digital content to support the curriculum, Mr Higgins said.
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