New primary school maths curriculum focuses on learning through play and problem-solving 

Teachers will also be given the chance to use more games as part of lessons involving counting, measuring, and angles, and the new curriculum will also ask children to solve real-life problems using maths. File picture

The first changes to the primary school maths curriculum in almost 25 years will see a new focus placed on how children learn the subject’s concepts through playing and problem-solving.

While much of what children will learn in maths, like numbers algebra, data, measures, shapes, and space, remains unchanged, the new curriculum places more emphasis on enhancing how children learn.

This is through a focus on allowing children to be creative, take risks, and be challenged, while also making connections between maths and other subjects, like PE, history, or Irish.

Teachers will also be given the chance to use more games as part of lessons involving counting, measuring, and angles, and the new curriculum will also ask children to solve real-life problems using maths.

Teachers will also be asked to help children have a positive disposition towards the subject by demonstrating enthusiasm for maths themselves. 

Part of this will involve celebrating effort and success in the subject, while also normalising struggles and mistakes as part of the learning process. 

Published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the new curriculum marks the first major change to the subject at this level since 1999.

Views of children

The changes have been shaped by the views of the children themselves, according to Education Minister Norma Foley.

“They have shared with us how they experience mathematics in the classrooms today and how they would like to experience it in the years to come.

The curriculum sets out a fresh vision for children’s learning that is characterised by playfulness, creativity, challenge, risk-taking, and opportunities for reasoning and solving real-life problems.

“It also provides opportunities to make connections between mathematical learning and other areas of learning.

“The new curriculum promotes the development of skills such as computational thinking, financial literacy and spatial ability which are critical for children to thrive in the modern world.”

The launch of the new primary mathematics curriculum was welcomed by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO). However, the union warned teachers must be given time and professional development support to implement it.

Teachers have been central to the development of the new curriculum, according to INTO deputy general secretary Deirdre O’Connor.

“The minister now needs to ensure that teachers get the time and professional development they need to implement it.”

The new curriculum can be accessed online at curriculumonline.ie.