Dr Stephen Quirke is an assistant professor in mathematics education based at the School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at Dublin City University. He researches through the lens of teacher identity, focusing on mathematics teachers undertaking a national priority program that retrains out-of-field teachers to become in field. About 20% of his country’s maths teacher workforce are graduates. It’s huge! That program emphasises mathematical knowledge over how to teach it – mathematical pedagogical content knowledge. But, as his PhD research shows, there were some surprising results.Assistant Professor Quirke also offers insights into the teacher workforce – the numbers and percentages for demand and supply. If your country is lookingto deal with the issue of insufficient qualified mathematics teachers, this interview will be thought provoking.

Links:

Dr Stephen Quirke’s university profile https://www.dcu.ie/stemeducationinnovationglobalstudies/people/stephen-quirke

Irish Government priority areas for upskilling post-primary teachers

https://eurireland.ie/2021/04/06/ministers-announce-additional-places-for-post-primary-teachers-in-matha-physics-spanish-and-irish/