The Department of education has among its inspectoral staff at second level an agricultural science inspector. Despite the fact that the inspector has professional responsibilities in other areas nevertheless a full range of examination, assessment and curriculum development duties are carried out.
The embargo on recruitment to the Civil Service since 1983 has prevented an expansion in the number of inspectors at second level in any area.
The scope and size of the agriculture and food industry makes agricultural science a very important subject in the second level school curricula. The agricultural science syllabus in the leaving certificate programme is under revision by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment at present. It is expected that the revised syllabus will be more relevant not only for students in rural schools but also for students in urban schools, who aspire to further education and training and a career in the agriculture and food industry.
It is also expected that in the revised syllabi in both biology and agricultural science there will be only minimal overlap or common material. This will allow students to choose both subjects, a choice which is not available at present. The numbers who took agricultural science in the leaving certificate in the various years is as follows: 1960 - 256; 1970-743; 1980 - 894; 1990 - 2,160; 1991-2,296; 1992 - 2,175; 1993 - 2,326; 1994 - 2,198.
