Primary pupils get ‘grouding in science’ from recently-qualified teachers

Recently-qualified Irish primary teachers are giving pupils a good grounding in science, with more classroom experiments than older colleagues.

The finding emerges from questions to fourth-class teachers at the same time their pupils were tested in maths and science two years ago.

It is already known that the amount of time given to teaching science in Irish primary schools is less than in any other country that took part in TIMSS 2015, an international study across 56 countries. While Irish pupils were among the best performers in science, and results improved significantly since the previous test in 2011, children in 15 other countries got significantly better scores.

The Educational Research Centre (ERC) in Dublin said the time given to teaching science in Ireland halved from 63 to 32 hours a year since the previous test in 2011.

The ERC analysts believe this is likely to be linked to the greater time devoted to reading and maths under the Government’s numeracy and literacy strategy. The same strategy was credited earlier this month with significant improvements in the reading ability of fourth-class pupils between 2011 and the latest parallel tests for reading done last year.

The age profile and the length of teaching experience among Irish pupils’ teachers was relatively lower than in most other countries. The 10 years’ experience of the average teacher here was six years less than all those in the TIMSS study area.

On the basis of responses to teacher questionnaires, it emerged that one-quarter of Irish children whose teachers have been in the job for less than three years experience scientific investigation in at least half their science classes.

That compares to just 15% of pupils whose teachers are working three to five years, although one-fifth of those with longer-serving teachers experience experiments and other active teaching methods regularly in class.

The ‘new teachers’ were less inclined to read textbooks to the class or have pupils listen to them explain new science content.

The different teaching practices have been linked to changes to teacher education. Those who have qualified more recently are likely to have experienced an increased emphasis on inquiry-based methods, which past research strongly links to better attitudes and understanding of science among primary pupils.

As well as teacher experience, the methods used in schools with different status was also compared, and showed that active teaching is less likely to be used in disadvantaged schools.

Aidan Clerkin, one of the ERC report authors, said Irish teachers were much less confident in teaching science than they are in maths.

“They also noted that participation in science-related professional development in the two years leading up to the survey was relatively rare, which suggests that there may be scope for additional support for teachers on this front,” he said.