Clima y Meteorología

The age, gender, experience, role and class size of individual respondents in their respective schools were chosen as the factors to profile individual respondents. 60% to 92% of all primary teachers internationally in 2005 were female. The average age of primary teachers internationally in 2005 was 41 to 47 years (OECD, 2005, p.6). There were 30,368 primary teachers in Ireland during the school year 2007/2008 (http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/stat_2007_2008.pdf).

At the time of this research (November/December, 2007) there were 3,282 primary schools from which a random selection of 1,000 was made. There being only one principal per school, approximately 11% of all Irish Primary Teachers would be expected to be principals. The response rate from principals to this survey was extremely high, with 55% of all respondents being principals. This is mentioned at the outset as it affects all the data and needs to be borne in mind when data are being interpreted.

5.2.1 Gender of respondents

65% of respondents were female and 35% were male. This reflects international trends at the time (DES, 2005). There is evidence to suggest that the over-

representation of females among teachers may negatively affect female participation in the sciences. While girls have increased their up-take of science subjects in recent years (DES 2007, p.4), they tend not to pursue careers in the scientific arena (Little and de la Barra 2009, p.440). Ivinson and Murphy (2007) and Cervoni and Ivinson (2011) suggest that:

...message systems in a classroom can either open up opportunities for girls to learn in science or create barriers that trap girls into fixed positions.

122 It is plausible that female teachers, who may have aligned themselves with social identities of incompetence historically extended to girls in science, could

inadvertently interact with pupils in such a way as to reinforce this gender dynamic. One of the problems that persist is that children continue to align

science with masculinity.

(Cervoni and Ivinson 2011, p.462)

Rocard et al (2007, p.11) stress the need for gender issues to be tackled at primary level since “primary school corresponds to the time of construction of intrinsic motivation associated with long-lasting effects…it is the right time to tackle gendered patterns.” If teachers, however, are not aware of how they may be contributing to a socio-cultural perception of science as objective and unemotional (Cervoni and Ivinson 2011, p.462) they cannot address the “pedagogic practices that close down possibilities for children to make connections” (Cervoni and Ivinson 2011, p.472). When a profession continues to be dominated by a single gender, I suggest that it is more difficult to disrupt the historical legacy of science as

“masculine and objective”. When that profession is predominantly managed by male principals it is possible that principals may not be best placed to establish a common vision of improved practice in the area of science among their predominantly female staffs.

5.2.2 Age of respondents

Nearly two thirds of all respondents in this survey were over the age of 40. The greatest number of responses was in the oldest category of 51 to 65 years at 35% which may reflect the over-representation of principals. A comparison of the ages of respondents with the available statistics is presented in Table 5.1.

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Table 5.1 Age Categories of Irish Primary Teachers in 2007, (OECD, 2009) and NNA, 2007)

While the older age categories are over-represented, all sectors are represented in the NNA responses.

5.2.3 Roles of respondents

As can be seen from Table 5.2, 80% of all respondents were teaching. About two thirds of the principals were “teaching principals”, reflecting the national statistics (DES Statistics, 2007).

Role of Respondents All Respondents

N=465

N %

Administrative Principal 92 20

Teaching Principal 166 36

Class Teacher 177 38

Resource Teacher/Learning Support 30 6

Table 5.2 Role of NNA Respondents Within Their Respective Schools

We can see from the cross-tabulation of age and class taught in school in Figure 5.1 that a child in a multiple-senior class (e.g. 5th and 6th) is three times more likely to be taught by a person over the age of 40.

Age categories of Irish Primary Teachers (OECD, 2009) http://www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond- school/educationataglance2009oecdindicators.htm % NNA Age Categories (2007) % Less than 30 26 20-30 19 30-39 23 31-40 16 40-49 23 41-50 30 50+ 28 50+ 35 Total: 100

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Figure 5.1 Distribution of Class-Levels According to Age of Respondents

In a rural school, the person teaching the senior classes is very likely to be the principal as well. The increasingly fading parameters of the principal’s role as discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.5.6 must impact on the educational experience of children in these classes. The 2007 DES/OECD publication Improving School

Leadership queries the feasibility of the multiple roles of Irish principals.

5.2.4 Class size

The issue of class size is considered an issue very pertinent to the topic of primary science as classroom management is of particular relevance to practical science classes. The information for this section was derived from responses to Q.9 (NNA Questionnaire, Appendix V). The most common class size amongst those surveyed

Class Level Special needs Special needs Multiple seniors Multiple juniors 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st Infants Resource Count 60 40 20 00 20 40 60 60 40 20 0 Class Level Special needs Multiple seniors Multiple juniors 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st Infants Resource 60 40 20 0 51+ years 41-50 years 31-40years 20-30 years

125 was 24 but about 50% of all respondents were teaching classes of 24 or more. The largest class size was 44 pupils.

Distribution of Class Sizes of NNA

Respondents (2007)

1-19Pupils 20-24 Pupils 25-44 Pupils

n % n % N %

Total number of classes, N=344

122 36% 100 28% 122 36%

Table 5.3 Distribution of Class Sizes in Relation to 2007 Irish Teacher-Pupil Ratio of 1-24

Table 5.3 illustrates that, in 2007, over one third of the respondents were teaching classes of 25 children or more. The Education at a Glance report showed that only 6 other OECD countries had bigger average class sizes than Ireland (OECD 2007, p.372). The negative impact of increased numbers on the provision of science at both primary and secondary levels was identified by the NCCA (Murray, 2008) - an impact likely to be compounded by other cost cutting measures (Duncan, 2013).