Class sizes hindering science teaching

EFFORTS to get more children interested in science are being hindered by lack of teaching materials and overcrowded classes, according to an official report to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

The review of how the primary curriculum is being implemented found that these issues also affected the teaching of Irish and social, personal and health education (SPHE), the two other curricular areas examined.

But with continuing Government and industry emphasis on getting young people to study science through to Leaving Certificate and third level, greater investment in human and capital resources emerges as a key factor from the report by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

The council, which is a statutory advisory body to the minister, issued a questionnaire to more than 1,300 teachers for the report which has just been published. In response to questions on the challenges of teaching science, almost two-in-five teachers cited a lack of resources and equipment. The NCCA reports that the main issue surrounding resources “was, simply, a dearth of them”.

“Even when schools had resources it could sometimes be difficult and time-consuming to track down the particular resources needed. As one teacher noted: Sharing a box of magnets between nine teachers is not ideal,” the report said.

Another teacher mentioned the challenges raised by staff when discussing the curriculum shortly before the survey carried out in the 2006-2007 school year.

“Organising resources, class sizes, getting around every child, we like to have things. We were doing electrical circuits recently and we were lucky enough to have one between two, but it would have been brilliant to have one for each child,” the teacher wrote.

Other difficulties included a lack of running water in classrooms or storage facilities for equipment, and the lack of science books for teachers, particularly in all-Irish schools. More than one quarter said time was a major challenge when teaching science, and many said it was hard to teach it well in the one hour a week allocated.

Almost one in five teachers said class size was a challenge and several said their small classrooms but large class groups made it difficult to engage children in practical work.

“Many of them felt there were health and safety issues involved, as the children were often restricted with regard to the space,” the report said.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said the report shows how the issue affects the way all three subjects are taught

“It is made very clear that teachers don’t have the time or resources to implement the curriculum in overcrowded classes,” said general secretary John Carr.