Vol. 545 No. 3
174 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science his proposals to commission qualitative research for the reason boys are under-performing in the leaving certificate examination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30355/01]
I am informed that the examination performance of males and females in Ireland mirrors international experience. I have recently commissioned an educational research project to address this matter in conjunction with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. This research was stimulated by the findings of the longitudinal study on the performance in the 1996 leaving certificate of the cohort of students who sat the junior certificate examination in 1994. This longitudinal study was conducted by the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, for the NCCA. The study commented on the tendency for boys to be over-represented in the groups of students receiving low grades and under-represented in the groups achieving high grades.
At the request of the Equality Committee in my Department, the Equality Studies Department in UCD has been engaged, since 1998, in a detailed two-phase quantitative analysis of performance of boys and girls in the junior certificate examinations – 1992-96 – in all subjects but with particular reference to mathematics. I await the outcomes of this study which should become available early in 2002.
The Equality Committee in my Department is finalising proposals for another research project to be undertaken in co-operation with the NCCA. This study proposes to focus on the examination results of the 2001 certificate examination cohort with the purpose of analysing the achievements of boys and girls in the area of mathematics and comparing the performance of Irish candidates with that of their peers internationally. It is expected that the results of this analysis will be available by the end of 2002. Its findings will be evaluated in the context of further qualitative research in that area.
