Jen Cummins
Question:256. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth her plans to ensure same sex girl schools have equal access to STEM subjects, equipment and opportunities. [62320/25]
View answerThursday, 13 November 2025
Questions (256, 257)
Jen Cummins
Question:257. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth her plans to ensure girls have equal access to STEM subjects, equipment and opportunities in DEIS and DEIS plus schools. [62321/25]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 256 and 257 together.
The Department of Education and Youth is committed to providing an education system that is inclusive, equitable, and empowering for all. Every learner deserves the opportunity to thrive. Our focus is on high standards, inclusive practices, and strong supports to ensure no one is left behind.
The range of subjects offered depends on each school’s resources, staffing, and student needs. Each school retains autonomy to design timetables and determine which programmes and subjects to provide. Schools aim to balance available resources with student demand.
The promotion of STEM and digital learning is a key priority for the Department of Education and Youth. This commitment is reflected in multiple national strategies, including the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–2026, the Digital Strategy for Schools, the National Skills Strategy, , and the Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy.
The STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–2026 aims to improve STEM experiences and outcomes for all learners, from early learning and care through to post-primary level.
It acknowledges that there is a need to increase the uptake of STEM subjects and to enhance STEM learning for learners of all backgrounds, abilities and gender, with a particular focus on uptake by females. Between 2019 and 2023, there was a steady upward trend in the number of students taking STEM subjects at Leaving Certificate level. Although modest, these increases reflect wider international patterns of growth in STEM participation.
The policy statement acknowledges the need for coordinated interventions across the STEM education ecosystem to drive meaningful change. It emphasises that no single initiative can achieve gender equity; instead, multiple, complementary interventions are required to address different components of the ecosystem. These interventions must collectively tackle barriers that exist within the home, educational environments, and broader society.
Curricular reform, with its stronger focus on key skills, has been a significant step in driving change and advancing many of the qualities promoted in STEM education. STEM related curricular reform which have been implemented since 2018 include Junior Cycle Mathematics, Leaving Certificate Applied Mathematics, Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science, Leaving Certificate Computer Science and Primary Mathematics Curriculum. The new Science Technology and Engineering specification for primary school was published in September 2025.
The STEM Education Implementation Plan (2022–2026) sets out targeted actions in relation to females in STEM to include:
• Embed gender balance in early learning and care training.
• Continue to ensure gender equity is considered in all curriculum and policy reviews.
• Develop a national accreditation framework to support whole-school culture change on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Equitable access STEM/STEM and the Arts role models and career awareness activity.
• Development and provision of high-quality resources and professional learning.
The Department recognises that persistent gender stereotypes, the limited visibility of female role models, and misconceptions about career pathways continue to affect participation in STEM. Addressing these challenges requires sustained and multi-faceted action. Current measures aimed at increasing girls' exposure to and interest in STEM subjects a include:
• Supporting the STEM Passport for Inclusion programme, led by NUI Maynooth, which will engage over 5,000 female students from disadvantaged communities by 2026.
• Providing ongoing support for informal STEM initiatives such as IWISH, the Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, Scifest, and ESB Science Blast.
• Partnering with Research Ireland to fund STEM education and public engagement projects nationwide, with allocations of €500,000 in 2022, €869,474 in 2023, €510,666.50 in 2024, and €702,929 in 2025.
• Updating the Guidelines for STEM School–Business/Industry Partnerships to strengthen learning experiences, broaden career awareness, and inspire girls to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• Collaborating with BioPharmaChem Ireland, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and STEM Southwest to undertake a Schools STEM Industry Engagement Survey, aimed at identifying gaps in provision and ensuring all schools are equally supported to access industry-supported programmes. The results and recommendations will be published later this year.
• Developing subject information leaflets, including STEM subjects at Junior Cycle, to support primary school students, parents, and teachers during the transition to post-primary. A pilot will commence in the coming weeks.
• Delivering professional learning events for teachers and guidance counsellors, ensuring students receive accurate information about STEM opportunities. Additional resources are being prepared to help families better understand STEM subjects and related careers.
• Undertake a study in relation to timetabling and availability of subjects at post-primary level to understand where, how and why barriers prevent access to students to specific subjects. The results of this study will inform the development of guidelines for schools in relation to successful strategies to improve uptake and access to a wider range of STEM subjects.
• Refresh and supplement already collected data to inform an audit of STEM infrastructure in primary and post-primary schools.
Measures introduced in recent budgets included a STEM bursary to increase the number of STEM teachers available to post-primary schools, a PME fee refund scheme, an expansion of upskilling programmes including in STEM and school grants for the purchase of resources for STEM. These grants provided higher amounts to DEIS schools.
Budget 2025 introduced a €2,000 bursary for student teachers in STEM fields, payable in the final two years of their undergraduate programme, in exchange for a two-year teaching commitment. Work has begun on the implementation of this initiative, which aims to increase the number of STEM teachers.
Registered post-primary teachers, regardless of employment status, can avail of free upskilling programmes including in STEM subjects. These flexible programmes boost teachers’ employment opportunities while addressing subject-specific teacher shortages. Existing upskilling programmes are in high demand subjects such as maths, Spanish, Irish and physics. French, politics & society and computer science will commence this year. Over 980 post-primary teachers have already completed or are currently participating in such upskilling programmes.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including those in geographically isolated areas, can access a wide range of subjects. Under the Policy on Gaeltacht Education, the e-Hub project allows students in Gaeltacht post-primary schools to study Leaving Certificate subjects remotely through the medium of Irish. In the 2024/2025 school year, 24 students across eight schools, including four island schools, studied Physics and/or Chemistry through the e-Hub.
Question No. 257 answered with Question No. 256.