It’s no accident that Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Associate Professor at UCD’s School of Mathematics and Statistics, should end up spearheading an initiative like this.
Ní Shúilleabháin’s first teaching job was in a DEIS school and she quickly realised the extra level of support that students needed. By 2023, she was playing a leading role in a pilot scheme that looks to revolutionise how teachers are supported in teaching Maths.
Research has shown that students in DEIS schools are 40% less likely to take higher level Mathematics at Junior Cycle, disadvantaging them from taking the subject at Higher Level at Leaving Certificate with the compounding factor of missing out on bonus points. Some DEIS schools do not even offer the subject at this level. National studies have demonstrated that students attending DEIS schools have, unfortunately, a lower quality classroom experience, are more likely to lack confidence in their abilities, are less likely to be successful in their exams, and are more likely to be taught Maths through rote-learning. These findings are even more pronounced with female students.
Ní Shúilleabháin and her colleagues wanted to address these issues for DEIS schools and won funding from the Irish Research Council to undertake a two phase study. Phase 1 involved finding schools where Maths was being taught in an engaging, interesting way and learn from these ‘best case’ schools.
Phase 2 involved a year-long intervention, based on findings from Phase 1, focused on supporting maths teachers in ten pilot schools across the country. Deloitte provided financial assistance to all participating schools to allow teachers to engage in the intervention, with funding which could be used to support collaborative meetings, research lessons, technology or mathematics resources for the classroom.
At the heart of the project is a move away from rote learning and a focus on upskilling teachers to teach broader problem-solving skills, coming at tasks from as many angles as possible. The intervention involved teachers working together in a structured, collaborative way known as ‘lesson study’ in order to encourage discussion, critical thinking and creative solutions in the mathematics classrooms. Getting students to tackle unfamiliar problems is a core part of this productive classroom process. While formal results of the pilot programme have not yet been collated, there has been overwhelming support from teachers.
With this intervention, Maths teachers have had the opportunity to work closely with their peers in developing new teaching practices and spend more time discussing their craft, a core element of the upskilling process. Teachers found this approach so beneficial that, even without financial support in the coming year, they are intending to continue with this form of teacher professional development in the coming academic year:
“It was great getting the chance to engage with lesson study here in our school and planning is already underway to try and fit more in for the next academic year,” pointed out a teacher in one of the DEIS schools in the South-East.
As well as dovetailing with Deloitte’s WorldClass ambition, the research results will eventually contribute to departmental policy on learning in DEIS schools, along with policy in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education.
