Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 14 Oct 1999

Vol. 509 No. 3

Written Answers. - Science Education.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

49 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of pupils taking each of the science subjects at junior certificate, leaving certificate and at first year third level in each of the past five years. [20094/99]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of secondary school students taking particular science subjects is:

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1993/94Science	184,929	Applied Maths	2,534
		Physics	23,830
		Chemistry	17,763
		Phy and Chem.	3,490
		Ag. Science	5,023
		Biology	63,060
	184,929		116,700

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1994/95Science	184,520	Applied MathsPhysicsChemistryPhy and Chem.Ag. ScienceBiology	2,53021,72717,0313,1064,98061,444
	184,520		110,818

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1995/96Science	181,443	Applied MathsPhysicsChemistryPhy and Chem.Ag. ScienceBiology	2,44620,02015,6882,8555,28261,130
	181,443		107,421

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1996/97Science	176,255	Applied MathsPhysicsChemistryPhy and Chem.Ag. ScienceBiology	2,46820,36215,2472,7065,82162,559
	176,255		109,163

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1997/98Science	170,417	Applied MathsPhysicsChemistryPhy and Chem.Ag. ScienceBiology	2,24019,67114,2912,6966,14960,531
	170,417		105,578

	JuniorCert		LeavingCert
1998/99Science	164,704	Applied MathsPhysicsChemistryPhy and Chem.Ag. ScienceBiology	2,41818,54513,6372,3486,33956,686
	164,704		99,973

Data on the numbers of students taking each of the science subjects at first year third level are not available. My Department gathers statistics from the providers of third level courses based on requirements set out by UNESCO, the OECD and Eurostat, using the ISCED system, International Standard Classification of Education, to define different fields of study. From data available from this source I can inform the Deputy of the following:

New Entrants, Full-time, to third level institutions in the field of natural science, mathematics and computer science

	No. of Students
1995/96	6,676
1996/97	6,784

Overall Enrolments, full-time and part-time, in third level institutions in the field of natural science

	No. of Students
1993/941994/951995/961996/971997/98	15,23916,44917,63718,73218,572