48% of maths teachers at second level unqualified

ALMOST HALF of second-level maths teachers are not qualified in that field, a report has found.

The lack of qualified maths teachers may be a key influence on students’ poor performance in maths and may explain the low uptake of higher-level maths, the report said.

Only 16 per cent of Leaving Cert students sit the higher-level paper, the lowest figure for any honours subject.

The research was based on a survey of maths teachers and principals across the State and was written by Dr Máire Ní Riordáin and Dr Ailish Hannigan at the University of Limerick.

Those teaching maths without a specific qualification are referred to in the report as “out of field” maths teachers.

Teachers in this category surveyed for the report were mainly qualified to teach science and business subjects and did not have a significant element of maths in their degree.

They make up 48 per cent of maths teachers and tended to be assigned to teach ordinary level maths for non-exam years as well as foundation level and resource teaching, the study found.

On average the out-of-field teachers taught half the number of hours of qualified maths teachers.

The concentration of unqualified maths teachers in early years of the junior cycle came at a point where “students’ attitudes and abilities need to be nurtured”, the report said.

Younger teachers were much less likely to be qualified to teach maths than older teachers “so the situation will not improve over time without intervention by appropriate agencies”, Dr Ní Riordáin said.

The report recommended that postgraduate qualifications in maths teaching be introduced for these out-of-field teachers. Three-quarters of the unqualified teachers said they would avail of this if it was provided.

“Given that teacher recruitment is at a standstill, the first response to the finding has to be to focus on the teachers we have in the system and on supporting their work,” said Anne Looney, CEO, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Over half of the principals surveyed said it was difficult to find suitably qualified maths teachers.

Qualified maths teachers were “scarce and very difficult to get” and it was “an issue of concern”, said Clive Byrne, director of the National Association for Principals and Deputy Principals.

However, regulations introduced under the teacher regulation body, the Teaching Council, would help solve the problem over time, he said.

Reacting to the findings, John Power, director general of Engineers Ireland, said schools needed quality maths teachers who could bring maths to life and make students appreciate its uses.

The education system had to bias itself to maths and technology to suit the future needs of the economy, he said.

In its response to the study, the Department of Education said that a national programme of professional development for teachers would begin in October and would preface the introduction of the new maths curriculum Project Maths.

However, Dr Maria Meehan, of the School of Mathematical Sciences in University College Dublin, said it was not enough to change the maths curriculum without teachers qualified to teach it.

She said the Teaching Council did not recognise postgraduate maths qualifications for teachers and needed to be “more flexible”.

The report recommended that the problem of “out of field” teachers should be addressed by the Teaching Council.

The council said it had no role in the appointment of teachers in schools.

UCC mathematics lecturer Dr Stephen Wills said it was like asking someone to teach French “if they have only been on holiday to France a couple of times”.

Unqualified teachers at junior level meant it might be “too little, to late by the time exam years come around” because one part of maths fed into the next, but it was a catch-22 situation, he said.