Teaching style ‘may hinder Irish maths students’

FAILURE to highlight practical applications of maths in class could be hindering the performance of Irish teenagers in international tests, according to a study published this week.

In the most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) comparison of maths skills among 15-year-olds, Ireland was ranked 17th out of 29 countries with overall scores around the average mark.

But a survey of 856 maths teachers by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) at St Patrick’s College Dublin, found that their methods may have a major impact on their students’ performance.

It found that less than 5% of time in maths classes was devoted to the transfer of knowledge to real-life situations.

“It suggests that Irish students may be at a disadvantage facing a test such as that administered in PISA, in which practically all problems are located in real-life contexts,” said the report, published in the Irish Journal of Education.

The ERC survey found that the quantity part of the maths course receives moderate to high emphasis by Irish teachers but their students only perform at the OECD average in this area in the PISA tests.

Different approaches to maths teaching and ways of avoiding exam-focused learning are being considered under plans to overhaul second-level maths and increase numbers taking the subject at higher level for the Leaving Certificate.

This week’s OECD Education at a Glance report noted wide differences in performance of Irish teenagers between the different content areas examined in PISA, and suggested this deserved attention in the development of the maths curriculum.

More than one-third of teachers surveyed believe computers are important tools for teaching maths but only 18% use them during classes, mostly for education websites, word-processing or spreadsheets.

“The low incidence of computer use in schools in Ireland has been highlighted elsewhere and the barriers to more widespread and integrated use remain a general area of concern,” authors Judith Cosgrove, Gerry Shiel, Elizabeth Oldham and Nick Sofroniou said.