Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 July 2018
115. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to reports that 20% of mathematics teachers did not meet the standards of an organisation (details supplied) for same; and the steps he will take to address the matter. [29872/18]
View answerThe Deputy will note that the performance of students in Ireland in mathematics and science is relatively high by international standards. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) report, which included the survey of mathematics teachers' qualifications, the results of which were published last week by the Educational Research Centre, found that only six out of 39 countries obtained significantly higher mean scores than Ireland in mathematics, while seven countries significantly outperformed Ireland in science.
While the findings are not directly comparable, the TIMSS report would suggest that the situation regarding out-of-field mathematics teachers taking classes in schools has improved, compared to 2010. A report in 2010 by the University of Limerick showed that in a study of 51 schools, 48% of teachers in the study did not have a major teaching qualification in mathematics. On foot of that report, with funding from the Department, over 1000 out-of-field maths teachers will have gained a post-graduate qualification through the a programme led by EPI-STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education at University of Limerick, by 2020.
The STEM Policy Statement and Implementation Plan, which I launched in November 2017, aims to make Ireland the best in Europe in STEM by 2026. I recognise that there are still challenges and the achievement of our STEM goals will rely on the availability of suitably qualified teachers to meet our schools' needs. This is one of a range of issues being considered by the Teacher Supply Steering Group, that I recently established. Already, as I announced earlier this year, following consultation with the Irish Universities Association, extra places on initial teacher education programmes have been provided by the universities in targeted subjects, including in STEM, from September 2018.
The Deputy will note that, although the findings are likely to correlate strongly to the Teaching Council's requirements for teaching mathematics, the Educational Research Centre's report states that, due to the way in which the TIMSS question was asked, a direct comparison with the Teaching Council’s requirement for teaching mathematics was not possible.
