According to the experts, changing the way our education system works is vital if we are to encourage young people to take up professions such as IT and engineering that will benefit our smart economy
The dotcom bust earlier this decade turned a generation of students off a career in the technology sector. Now will the recession exacerbate the problem? And what does this mean for the knowledge economy – will it be a castle built on sand if there aren’t enough graduates to fill the positions required?
New figures are hardly encouraging when seeking answers to these questions. Data from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) shows that university students choosing disciplines of maths, science and computing declined by 13pc in 2008. It’s a similar story from the Central Applications Office, with 2009 figures showing further decline: the number of applicants for engineering and technology degree courses was down by 9.8pc on last year.
This problem has been brewing for some time. In 2005, Dublin City University had 224 graduates from its computing course. By the following year this number dropped by more than half to 92 and declined again to 78 in 2007.
Professor John Murphy from UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics offers another vignette. “When I started here four years ago we had 80 people in our final-year class. Now there aren’t even 30,” he says.
There are immediate consequences, given the estimated 5,000 vacancies the IT sector is reportedly struggling to fill right now. Far more worrying are the future implications for the wider economy.
“This is directly of concern to IDA Ireland and to our clients,” confirms George Bennett, head of the clean technology division at IDA Ireland.
“Current FDI [foreign direct investment] will be joined by new FDI, we’re very confident of that. Right now, there are greater numbers on the supply side because of the economic contraction but that could be a problem when the situation improves. A shortage of skills would lead to competition for jobs and wage escalation like we had in previous years and we don’t want that to happen again.”
A report by Ipsos MORI for the HEA issued in April spelled out the extent of the problem. “The challenges of encouraging greater use of computing and technology in schools are considerable, in terms of insufficient funding to develop it, a potential skills gap whereby students are more technology-literate than their teachers, in addition to the difficulties of adding to an already heavy burden of school work,” it says.
The report also finds that all groups it spoke with consider access to computing and technology training in Irish schools as limited and in many cases outdated, lagging behind best standards in other countries. “Those with a passion for computing and technology who pursue third-level study in this area are typically self-taught and place little value on the access they are given in school,” it says.
Inspiring iniatives
Initiatives are underway at several levels to address the problem. “Under the Discover Science and Engineering programme funded by Forfás, some €5m is being spent annually to promote the take up of science, engineering and technology in schools and colleges, and an awareness of the importance of these disciplines in society generally,” says a spokesperson for the Department of Education.
The programme includes activities under Science Week, science clubs in schools, Science Excellence Awards, conferences and lectures, science quizzes, and the Scope TV programme.
Separately, the HEA is funding several initiatives to promote ICT courses to prospective students and also provides funding to third level institutions, both to improve the attractiveness of existing ICT courses and to set up new ones. An example of the latter is the newly approved postgraduate programmes at UCC’s Department of Computer Science.
At second level, initiatives such as Discover Sensors, Nanoquest and Science on Stage are supposed to stimulate student interest in science and technology.
The Department of Education formed an expert group earlier this year to examine how the department and the private sector can collaborate to improve technology usage in the classroom, in an attempt to tackle the problem at source. However that review is still ongoing – although the group had initially been due to report by May – and the Department would not comment on developments to date.
The Department’s spokesperson says the aim is to devise a schools curriculum on the basis that ICT is not a subject but a tool to be integrated into the teaching and learning of all subjects.
“The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has developed an ICT framework which sets out a structured approach to ICT in curriculum and assessment.”
Deep-rooted problems
Some believe the problems are more deep rooted. Havok, the games technology developer and Trinity College spin-out company, is having to look beyond Ireland for recruitment due to a lack of available skills. In an interview with Siliconrepublic.com in April, Havok CEO David O’Meara was scathing in his criticism of the Irish education system, which he said was “at best only average” and is not producing either the quality or quantity of graduates required.
“We need people who are innovative and capable of commercial and quick thinking,” he said. “The other issue on the education front for me is that it is not a question of money, but teaching. We don’t demand accountability from our teachers when it comes to important subjects such as maths.”
The figures bear out O’Meara’s contention: under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an internationally standardised assessment administered to 15 year olds in schools, Ireland ranked 16th out of the 30 OECD countries in maths ability.
Only 20pc of students taking this year’s Leaving Certificate are taking higher-level maths.
“We are concerned,” says Una Halligan, chairperson of the expert Group on Future Skills Needs. “High-level maths is one area we are really struggling with. Strong maths underpins the requirement for developing the knowledge economy.” She expresses her disappointment that the Department of Education refused to implement the group’s proposal that school leavers taking honours maths should receive bonus CAO points.
This was the most high profile of a series of recommendations made by the EGFSN aimed at addressing the maths deficit. The group also called for the provision of professional development and recognition to primary- and secondary-level maths teachers. Adequate time should be allocated to developing maths competence on teacher-training courses, it said.
Another proposal was that primary- and secondary-level maths teachers should be provided with additional professional development. Professional master’s degrees and higher diplomas in maths education should also be developed.
Many teachers giving higher-level maths classes don’t have a higher-level maths degree themselves, Halligan claims. Some of the problem lies with the textbooks and she calls for a more imaginative approach to teaching maths that uses new media and technology.
Supporting skills
The EGFSN’s position is that an adequate supply of people with mathematical, science and ICT skills is crucial to Ireland’s future social and economic development. The IDA takes a similar view. “Mathematically based skills such as engineering, sciences, software and financial services really form the core of FDI skills needs,” adds Bennett.
The Irish Software Association has also expressed concern that indigenous companies could struggle to recruit skilled labour in sufficient numbers in the future.
In many ways the situation is like the stock political promise to put more Gardai on the streets: it glosses over the problem that these extra numbers have to be recruited to the profession in the first place. Perception is clearly a factor. Anecdotally, senior figures at university computing departments say the fallout from the dot com slump caused many parents and career guidance counsellors to discourage students from pursuing technology subjects.
“It is a national challenge to encourage students to take up maths, science and engineering courses. It’s almost too late to have that dialogue with people when they’re preparing for the Leaving Cert,” says Bennett.
Another recent report from the HEA, aimed at making technology careers more attractive to students, acknowledged there can be a negative perception around technology.
“The report shows that the problem is a complex one and there is no one solution that will solve it overnight. Industry, third-level colleges and schools need to work together to agree and promote a common message to promote careers in technology,” says Kathryn D’Arcy, director of ICT Ireland.
A pilot scheme, Project Maths was launched in 24 schools last September and this takes a more interactive, student-focused approach to the subject with the ultimate aim of encouraging greater uptake in science and technology courses at third level.
The Department of Education calls this “major reform” at junior and senior cycle but it’s questionable whether it will have the appetite – or, more importantly, the budget – to extend this initiative beyond the test sites. “There is a hope that this is successful, that the Department of Education would roll that out in all schools sooner rather than later,” says Halligan.
But is all this focus on maths and related disciplines of science and engineering a sign of conventional wisdom at work? Dr Eoin O’Leary, a lecturer at UCC specialising in economic growth, innovation and regional economics, believes the Department of Education made the right decision. “I don’t know the reasons but I’m glad they said no,” he says.
To support his argument, O’Leary contends the CAO points system is a market – the lower points needed for computing and science subjects simply reflects a lack of demand, while greater interest in the business courses explains why there are more points required.
“People are going in to these courses because they see a better future in business,” says O’Leary. “Are all these people wrong? The brighter kids are doing business because they see a longer-term future in understanding how markets work and that’s the key to innovation. I’m not saying we should ignore technology, obviously, but the people best able to use it are those with business acumen.”
Halligan counters this, saying that maths skills have a broad application. “ICT underpins everything – hospitals, healthcare generally or the financial sector – it’s not just about working for somebody like HP or Intel. The biomedical and pharmaceutical industries need really smart people and what really underpins all this is a higher level maths qualification.”
Bennett agrees. “Leaders in most industries at very senior level almost all have some form of engineering, or finance or business background. There is a wide array of career opportunities from studying maths. It opens many more doors to students than to those who elect not to study it.”
In reality, the innovation debate raises broader questions besides the lack of maths skills. Halligan is quick to acknowledge this. “Of the population going into college every year, of course we’re not saying 100pc of them have to do maths and science, but it’s not an either/or situation. You have to promote innovation, and some of those innovators will be maths people and some will be science people,” she says.
Halligan’s day job at HP means she sees a steady stream of graduates and she says the company is pleased with the quality of Irish employees to date, with many of them naturally showing creativity or innovative leanings. A potential problem for the future is that this is not systematic. “It’s not as if some people have it and some people don’t: innovation is something you can teach but I’m not sure if our education system lends itself to it as it is, and that’s a question I don’t know the answer to,” Halligan admits. Maybe it’s time to start having the conversation.
21st-century skills
A new set of skills will be needed for the 21st-century worker, but are these needs being adequately addressed? In his blog last month, Dublin City University president Dr Ferdinand von Prondzynski, wrote about this issue of retraining initiatives announced as part of the recent Budget, and drew parallels with similar initiatives launched in the Eighties.
“This time it will be different, and the opportunities to be economically active will be different. We will still need a skilled workforce in the computing industry, and indeed many of the opportunities will be in employment by international companies.
“But typically the skills needed will now be more advanced, with undergraduate degrees, but also postgraduate research degrees, likely to be in demand. We will need scientists and engineers with significant third and fourth-level qualifications. But in particular, we will also need people who are equipped to create jobs rather than just occupy them,” he wrote.
Relying on benevolent multinationals for investment and jobs is a risky option, he added. “If we are to thrive again, we will need a far greater number of indigenous entrepreneurs setting up their own businesses and creating both economic activity and employment; and key elements of the ‘labour market activation’ package should focus on that. It will be vital to engage all students in the idea of being entrepreneurs, in diverse areas ranging from life sciences to culture and arts. From what I am seeing in the public discussions on all this, I am not sure that this point has been sufficiently understood.”
Backing winners
Is the attention paid to science and technology out of proportion to its role in the economy and to fostering innovation? UCC’s Dr Eoin O’Leary makes a convincing case for challenging the received thinking on this subject.
He points to the work of the management thinker and writer Peter Drucker – who, incidentally, is credited with coining the term ‘knowledge worker’. In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles, Drucker argued that technology is the means by which we understand a phenomenon rather than its cause.
“Has anyone asked the question: what does the knowledge economy actually mean?” asks O’Leary. “Were economies not driven by knowledge long before now? It’s taken to mean the importance of science and technology etc, but that has to be questioned: does science and technology result in innovation?”
O’Leary questions the almost exclusive focus on science as a basis for innovation. “I agree with the consensus that we have to become more innovative to generate more productivity growth but [dispute] the next step of the logic that science and technology are the source of that innovation … scientific innovation is very far from the market and therefore it’s very high risk. There are huge question marks over the ability of academics to bring ideas into a commercial product.”
As O’Leary sees it, the Government’s strategy can go one of two ways: a science push where innovation follows the invention phase or a market-driven approach where businesses innovate by interacting with their customers and suppliers. “The government has got it the wrong way around. We’re saying that the science push is a huge gamble and unlikely to be a magic bullet,” he says.
Moreover, published research has shown that at best there is no effect from the interaction between business and third level and the consequent chances of innovation. “That is worrying from a government point of view,” he says.
Findings like these chip away at the key planks supporting the Government’s knowledge economy programme. O’Leary asks: “How can committees decide on a sector that Ireland will be competitive in? That’s not the way countries develop competitive advantage; they develop it by going to the marketplace. Smart governments don’t pick winners, they back winners. Some of the really internationally competitive businesses in Ireland have arisen almost in spite of Government intervention in many cases.
“There are loads of other sectors of the economy ignored by the Government – that includes a lot of manufacturing, a lot of services like tourism and food. There is a bias towards foreign investments, there is no doubt. That has been good to us but I think the Government has to think of a new trick in terms of getting us to be more innovative. Maybe they should sit back and let the natural ingenuity of people to be innovative come through and let’s support it rather than trying to pick winners in advance.”
This article first appeared in Knowledge Ireland magazine.