The group which represents US companies in Ireland has described continuing failure rates in some Leaving Cert subjects as disappointing.
Up to 58,000 students received the results of their exams today. They indicated a positive start for a pilot curriculum in maths in which students have been learning the subject through new teaching methods at 24 schools in the past two years.
But overall the failure rate in maths remains high, as more than 4,000 students did not pass the subject. Just 16% of students sat the higher level maths paper.
Education Minister Mary Coughlan told RTÉ radio she hoped to see an incentive for maths in place by 2012 with the introduction of bonus points. She also said the Government would evaluate concerns about the science subjects to see how more students could be encouraged to study these subjects.
Ms Coughlan said she was encouraged by the results in the pilot study in Project Maths, which was an examination subject for the first time this year.
Joanne Richardson, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, said failure rates in maths, chemistry and physics had increased.
Failure rates in higher level physics now stand at 7% and as high as 8.1% in honours chemistry. Failure rates in honours maths have increased to 3.7%.
The American Chamber of Commerce said the increase in the number of As in applied maths to 29.6% was positive, but it pointed out that there were fewer students taking the subject.
'If we are to make the smart economy a reality and if we are to retain and grow foreign direct investment, we need to ensure a continuous pipeline of graduates with the skills which will drive innovation across all industry sectors such as ICT, pharmaceuticals, engineering, biotech and financial services,' Ms Richardson said.
PharmaChemical Ireland, which represents the Irish pharmaceutical and chemicals sector, welcomed an upward trend in the total number of students studying science subjects, but expressed concern about the increased failure rate in chemistry.
