Pictured at the launch of 'Knowing What Counts': Dr. Anne O’Gara President Marino Institute of Education, Brigid McManus Secretary General Department of Education and Science, Prof Michael Grenfell Head of School of Education Trinity College Dublin, Sr. Bernadette McMahon Chairperson of the Governing Body Marino Institute of Education, and Dr. Seán Delaney Lecturer in Marino Institute of Education and author of the report.

The new report was launched on February 2 by Brigid McManus, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science, and Professor Michael Grenfell, Head of School of Education, Trinity College Dublin.

Authored by Dr. Seán Delaney, Senior Lecturer, Coláiste Mhuire, Marino Institute of Education, the report is published jointly by the Marino Institute of Education and the Department of Education and Science.

The report explores Irish primary teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. For the purposes of the study, measures of teacher knowledge from the United States were adapted and used to survey Irish teachers.

The study finds that:

• Mathematical knowledge levels vary substantially among teachers. 
• Irish teachers generally are good at algebra, at identifying and classifying errors made by students in their work, and at matching diagrams with fraction calculations. 
• Irish teachers find it more difficult to know if a student’s explanation demonstrated understanding and whether common 'rules of thumb' given to students (such as “multiplying makes numbers bigger”) are always true.

Variation among teachers should not be surprising, says Dr Delaney.

“Teachers take courses in maths methods but are not required to study mathematics during their teacher education programmes, although some do.

“And when teachers are offered professional development, the goal is usually to improve their teaching methods rather than their mathematical knowledge.”

Dr Delaney stresses the value of taking teachers’ mathematical knowledge more seriously, given the current interest in improving students’ achievement in maths and in developing a knowledge economy.

“As part of their preparation to become teachers, prospective teachers need to study the kind of mathematical knowledge that teachers use in their work, and practicing teachers need opportunities to develop their mathematical knowledge as well as the teaching methods they use,” says Dr Delaney.

The study also shows that teachers need to know a kind of maths that is complex, and often not held by maths experts such as engineers, computer programmers or research mathematicians.

Most adults do not need to think about the following questions:

• If children are asked to calculate 42 minus 25, why will many of them incorrectly answer 23?
• Why is a traffic cone not a good example of a 3-D cone shape?
• Is a rectangle a parallelogram?
• How do you define an odd number in a way that is mathematically accurate and that is comprehensible to five-year-olds?

However, knowing the answers to these questions and others like them is all in a day’s work for a primary teacher.

Find out more by reading the full report