Professional development for out-of-field post-primary teachers of mathematics: an analysis of the impact of mathematics specific pedagogy training

Impact of a national professional development programme for out-of-field teachers of mathematics in Ireland

“…First, to partially counter the possibility that teachers may have overreported the effects of participation in the programme, we followed Desimone's (2009) recommendation to interpret teachers' self-reports of behavioural change in the context of the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs elicited via other survey items. Second, our claims are supported by previous studies, conducted by Lane andFaulkner (2021), that involved different cohorts of PDMT participants and different data sources and analysis methods. Both of these studies collected data on self-reported beliefs and classroom practices before and after teachers experienced specific components of the PDMT programme (action research for the former study; pedagogy workshops for the latter study); and both studies found evidence of a reported shift away from a traditional, teacher-led style to more student-centred, inquiry-based pedagogies that emphasise development of mathematical understanding.…”

“…Desimone (2009) notes that it is rare for a single study to investigate all four elements of this model; in particular, there are significant methodological difficulties in designing evaluations that measure the specific effects of professional development on student achievement. Our own research has concentrated on analysing the critical features of the PDMT programme (Step 1 in Desimone's model; see Goos et al 2020) and its effect on the teachers who participated in the programme (Steps 2 and 3; see Lane and Ní Ríordáin 2020;Ní Ríordáin, Paolucci, and O'Dwyer 2017;O'Meara and Faulkner 2021). In this paper, we further examine the impact of the PDMT on teachers' beliefs and pedagogical approaches as key elements in Desimone's (2009) model of teacher change.…”

Investigating the Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Classroom Practices of Out-of-Field, In-Field, and Upskilled Mathematics Teachers

“…Our research team's earlier analysis of PDMT participants' action research reports indicated that teachers perceived a shift over time in their pedagogical practices towards more student-centred approaches that emphasised conceptual understanding and problem-solving . A related study of PDMT participants' self-efficacy beliefs found statistically significant improvements after completion of the programme's pedagogy workshops (O'Meara & Faulkner, 2021). A corresponding pre-post research design for investigating the impact of the PDMT on participants' classroom teaching approaches would require observation of lessons taught before and after the teachers experienced the programme.…”

“…Desimone (2009) noted that it is rare for a single study to investigate all four elements of her proposed model; in particular, there are significant methodological difficulties in designing evaluations that measure the effects of professional development on student achievement. Research conducted by our larger team has analysed the critical features of the PDMT programme (Step 1 in Desimone's model; see Goos et al, 2020) and its effect on the teachers who participated in the programme (Steps 2 and 3; see Ní Ríordáin et al, 2017;O'Meara & Faulkner, 2021). In this chapter, we further examine the impact of the PDMT on teachers' self-efficacy beliefs (Step 2) and their classroom practices (Step 3) as key elements in Desimone's model of teacher change.…”

“…Although there has been little research on out-of-field teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, Ingersoll (1999) proposed that the incorrect assignment of out-of-field teachers to classes and subjects they were not qualified to teach was likely to have a negative impact on their sense of self-efficacy. More recently, O'Meara and Faulkner (2021) surveyed participants in the PDMT to examine their self-efficacy beliefs before and after completing the mathematics pedagogy workshop component of the programme. They found statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy as well as a shift in the teachers' self-reported classroom practices from teacher-led to student-centred approaches focusing on developing mathematical understanding.…”