Teachers’ perspectives on Junior Cycle mathematics reform in Ireland

Between 2014 and 2022 lower secondary education in Ireland was completely overhauled with the introduction of the Junior Cycle Framework. As part of this reform movement, a revised mathematics curriculum was introduced in 2018. To effectively evaluate educational reform efforts such as this, it is critical to ascertain teachers’ perspectives on the changes introduced. As such, this paper seeks to evaluate the reformed Junior Cycle mathematics specification by exploring the perspectives of Irish mathematics teachers. Drawing on survey data from 196 teachers, we investigate mathematics teachers’ beliefs regarding the necessity and effectiveness of the reform, as well as perceived strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. The findings highlight the importance of engaging teachers in the reform process to ensure successful implementation and sustained educational change, and offer suggestions and recommendations for future reform efforts. This paper is particularly timely, as reforms to Senior Cycle mathematics are currently being drafted.