22ND MAy 2024
Stephen Quirke, University of Galway, Ireland
Title of the talk:
Out-of-Field Teaching in Mathematics in Ireland: Framing the problem and solution
Abstract:
Since the 2000s, many jurisdictions have implemented educational reforms, often in response to student (under)achievement in international assessments. In the main, these reforms have centred on teachers, serving to improve teacher quality. Akiba (2017) notes that despite this global convergence on reforming teachers, underpinned by human capital theory, policy actors at national and local levels adopt divergent approaches to frame their respective jurisdiction’s teacher quality problem and solution. In this talk, I present the teacher reform adopted in Ireland since 2012, the Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching [PDMT], which sought to address Ireland’s teacher quality problem of the high incidence of teachers teaching mathematics without certification – or as defined in the Irish context, teaching the subject out-of-field.
I draw on Akiba’s (2017) conceptual framework to explain how global dynamics interacted in context-specific ways in Ireland, through the collective sensemaking of policy actors, to frame Ireland’s teacher quality problem as being out-of-field teaching in mathematics. Applying this framework requires an investigation of the Policy Environment, incorporating the domains of Reform Focus, Policy Design and Policy Implementation. To analyse the Policy Environment, I take a policy-as-discourse approach, drawing on Cochran-Smith et al.’s (2013) Politics of Policy framework. I highlight how the discourse of human capital theory influenced the reform of mathematics teaching in Ireland; the construction of the problem of mathematics teacher quality as central to Ireland’s underperformance in mathematics international assessments and future economic success; the development of the PDMT in adherence to the criteria that determine mathematics teacher certification; and the impact and implementation of the programme.
Applying Akiba’s (2017) framework also means attending to the Teaching Environment and its respective elements of the Teaching Profession, Work Context, and Instructional Context. In the talk, I will draw on findings from research involving PDMT participants, showcasing their identities and practices over their participation in the programme, the unique positioning of mathematics in the Irish secondary school curriculum and the employment conditions of teachers in Ireland. Insights from these aspects of the Teaching Environment serve to indicate why, perhaps, the continuous upskilling of teachers reduces – as opposed to eradicates – out-of-field teaching. To conclude the talk, I draw on these findings, along with recent literature in the area, to suggest other ways of framing out-of-field teaching that are not solely reliant on teacher quality and how such framings may lead to other novel solutions.
References
Akiba, M. (2017). Editor’s introduction: Understanding cross-national differences in globalized teacher reforms. Educational Researcher, 46(4), 153–168.
Cochran-Smith M., Piazza P., & Power C. (2013). The politics of accountability: Assessing teacher education in the United States. The Educational Forum, 77(1), 6-27.