The Irish Examiner recently reported that the number of students who will take higher level Maths in next month's Leaving Certificate is down on previous years. Official figures suggest that just 10,101 or 19.5% of all students registered to sit Leaving Certificate Maths papers have indicated they will choose the higher level paper. 

These lowly figures are well below the 80% of students who take the higher-level papers in Biology and English. Unfortunately the modest numbers taking higher-level Maths are not anomalous but are instead representative of a worrying downward trend that appears unlikely to abate in the short-term. 

Minister Coughlan has attempted to arrest the falling numbers taking Maths by suggesting that she would be in favour of a move by Irish universities to award "significant" bonus points to students taking higher-level Maths. Coughlan argues that such a move would incentive students to take higher level Maths which could result in a reversal of the trend of recent years. 

However, the high incidence of failure rates even at ordinary level suggest that rather than lacking the incentive to study at higher level, a large proportion of students instead lack the basic fundamentals and struggle with the subject. These worrying figures are indicative of student's inability to deal with Maths in an interactive and though-provoking manner. 

In spite of the country's ambitions to be considered a "smart economy" and despite embracing technology in all other areas of our lives, technology for the most part is absent in the classroom. Instead of embracing ubiquitous technologies which we use in all areas of our lives; educators and educational institutions continue to cling to traditional, staid teaching methods which do little for students and manifest in poor grades and high failure rates. 

Interactive pedagogical technology is beginning to provide an alternative to archaic teaching methods which capture learner's attention and allow interaction with the subject matter on a different level to these antiquated schooling methods. 

Irish-based course provider ALISON offers a solution by harnessing the technology available and providing free interactive courses. Indeed, a smorgasbord of Maths courses are currently being added to their growing list of free interactive school curriculum courses. 

These courses educate the learner from basic fractions to more complex matters such as probability and geometry. The courses allow the learner to grapple with the subject matter in an interactive and self-paced manner giving students the confidence and skills to succeed at both higher and ordinary-level Maths.