Mathematics teacher shortages in secondary schools: implications for mathematics departments

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Teacher shortage in secondary school mathematics continues to be one of the major difficulties facing the education system. This problematic area has received much attention of late, following the recent publication of a DES consultative document (DES, 1986) on teacher shortage in mathematics, physics and CDT, and a current spate of initiatives inviting higher education institutions to address the shortage issue. This paper discusses various aspects of overt shortage including recruitment trends, future prospects, attitudes of potential recruits and school‐based factors which contribute to this type of shortage. It is argued that the area of hidden shortage is much more problematic than overt shortage for the secondary school system. This is because overt shortage figures, usually measured by the number of teacher vacancies, are masked by the fact that schools often recruit mathematics teachers whom they consider to be unacceptable on qualification grounds, but are forced to accept because of a dearth of suitable applicants. There is a significantly large proportion of mathematics tuition in secondary schools which is in the hands of unsuitably qualified teachers. The paper focuses primarily on how secondary school mathematics departments are organized so as to cope with this hidden shortage of specialist teachers. A case‐study approach was adopted in six mathematics departments, one of which is written up in detail. Detailed information on individual members of staff was collected: age, experience, qualifications and an informal appraisal of their classroom effectiveness and contribution to the department. A number of factors are considered: staff deployment strategies, staff development policy, the role of the head of department, the link between the staffing of mathematics and computing, and the overall provision of mathematics in the school. The notion of a mean teaching quotient is introduced which provides an empirical measure of the proportion of teaching time spent with pupil groups of high, average and low abilities. As a result of the case‐study work, it has been possible to generate five hypotheses relating to the implications of hidden shortage for mathematics departments. It is hoped that these hypotheses will provide a possible framework for future research into this area.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: