Speech by Minister Devins at Science Foundation Ireland ‘Secondary Teachers Assistant Researchers Programme’ Awards Ceremony

Wednesday, August 20^th 2008

Chairman, Director-General, Ladies and Gentleman,

I am delighted as Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation to be here with you all this afternoon, to formally recognise the achievements of participants in the Science Foundation Ireland 2008 STARs - Secondary Teachers Assistant Researchers - Programme.

Today is an opportunity to highlight and fittingly acknowledge the accomplishments of 37 secondary teachers from around the country, who this summer have demonstrated commitment, hunger for knowledge and a desire to impart this new knowledge and experience to their own students.

It is this hunger for knowledge, the motivation to seek it out and the impetus to share it with the next generation that underpins not only the success of this particular annual initiative, but, on a wider scale, the development of our knowledge economy.

The teaching profession has a crucial role to play in inspiring and encouraging students to gravitate towards the sciences. The fostering of excitement about science is very much in the hands of our secondary science teachers – perhaps more so than any other influencer in a young person’s life.

It is you and your colleagues who are ideally positioned to shape young people’s views - and perhaps change their preconceptions - on the nature and value of science in our daily lives.

The STARs programme is a unique initiative, through which teachers can receive financial support to conduct research within SFI-funded research teams during the school holidays, for periods of up to eight weeks. For teachers, this placement in a focussed, scientific environment, helps to renew their interest in this field, and ultimately enhances the teaching of science across our educational system.

The dissemination of new skills and knowledge to teachers, who in turn pass the scientific baton on to their students, greatly increases the potential for students to opt for career paths in the science and engineering sphere.

The Secondary Teachers Assistant Researchers programme started in 2004 and, to date, 200 STARs placements have been supported by Science Foundation Ireland.

Examples of projects undertaken by participating teachers this summer include: Irish Sign Language Recognition from Video Images – Expert Testing; Genetics of Autism; Virtual Maynooth; Public Awareness on Genetic Modification; and Novel nanomedicines targeting hospital superbugs and resistant cancer cells.

I wish to warmly congratulate this year’s STARs participants for enthusiastically embracing the opportunity to forge close links with and work alongside the scientific research community in Ireland.

Your active, hands-on interest in the very latest scientific developments is something from which your own students will benefit enormously through the course of the forthcoming academic year and beyond. And I genuinely believe that your own pupils and their parents will also admire your keenness to involve yourselves in a cutting-edge scientific setting.

Such an undertaking during one’s holidays is a very positive signal of intent, and for that you should all be commended.

Through programmes such as STARs, Science Foundation Ireland is leading the way in encouraging greater appreciation of, and participation in, science-related activity.

The Government is cognisant of the fact that, in order to ensure that Ireland’s knowledge economy fully flourishes into the future, ongoing investment in scientific research is essential.

This is a core element of our Programme for Government, our National Development Plan and our Strategy for Science, Technology and Engineering. To attract top-quality minds towards the research field, an interest in science must first be tapped into at an early stage, then, importantly, maintained through one’s passage through the education system.

As Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, I feel it is particularly important that developments in innovation are not viewed as something entirely separate to our day-to-day teaching and learning of the sciences.

The two must be intrinsically linked, if at all possible, and STARs narrows the gap that might exist between internationally-recognised laboratories and the local classroom.

Indeed, we all must collectively ensure that discoveries and research practices in science and engineering are woven into the teaching and learning of our secondary school science curriculum. The Science Foundation Ireland STARs programme is a driving force in ensuring that, through dedicated teacher / researcher collaborations, this takes place.

Again, my congratulations to each and every one of you on your achievement and your commitment to your pupils, to your school and to your profession. I have no doubt that you are now counting down the days until September, when the wisdom of your valuable STARs experience can be put to very best use!

ENDS/IP58a