Pre-service mathematics teachers' concerns and beliefs on implementing curricular reform

Abstract

In 2010, a major reform of the Irish post-primary mathematics curriculum was introduced. In tandem with this reform, in-service professional development has been made available to all post-primary mathematics teachers, with over 4,000 teachers attending such training (Project Maths Implementation Support Group, 2014). However, as these specialised professional development programmes are presently drawing to a close, newly qualifying mathematics teachers will not have an opportunity to participate in such in-service initiatives. In this research, we investigate the concerns and efficacy beliefs of a cohort of pre-service teachers (PSTs) towards the curriculum reform. 41 PSTs from post-graduate initial teacher education in four third-level institutions in Ireland participated in the research. Preliminary data based on their concerns regarding the reform (Charalambos and Philippou, 2010) and additional qualitative responses are presented in this paper. Findings suggest that at the commencement of their initial teacher education, this group of PSTs are concerned about their knowledge of the reform, have mis-information about the reform, and do not yet show significant concern for the impact of the reform.