| dc.description.abstract | This study investigates teachers' perspectives on transitioning from a country (Ireland) that relies on the use of textbooks in the teaching of mathematics to schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that do not. The UAE has a vast selection of international schools, many of which do not use textbooks as part of their teaching and learning. There are currently over 3000 Irish teachers working in schools in the UAE and every year hundreds of Irish teachers relocate to the UAE (Embassy of Ireland, 2019). The private education system in the UAE is made up of schools that offer British, American, French, Canadian and the International
Baccalaureate (IB) curriculums, among others. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges Irish teachers face as they experience this transition and identify the supports and pedagogies in place to enable them to teach without a textbook. To obtain the perspective of teachers, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Irish teachers, all of whom were working in international school settings in Abu Dhabi. Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process for thematic analysis was deemed appropriate for this kind of study. Familiarity with the data was achieved by reading and rereading the transcripts. Initial codes were then
generated to capture key ideas and these codes were combined to identify potential themes. Themes were subsequently reviewed, defined and named before being consolidated according to the themes that emerged. The findings revealed that these teachers initially faced challenges adapting to their new schools with an unfamiliar curriculum, different school culture, and new policies, procedures and assessment methods. One week prior to the start of the academic year, the teachers participated in an induction programme in their schools. This program provided an opportunity for teachers to meet fellow grade-level teachers, Heads of Year and Heads of Department, settle into their new classrooms, discuss subject planning, and become acquainted with policies, procedures, and curriculum developments. The findings also revealed that in the absence of a textbook, various pedagogies and other supports helped the teachers overcome the challenges of teaching mathematics without a textbook. These included an induction programme for new teachers, regular opportunities for collaboration with colleagues, implementation of differentiation strategies, use of technology such as iPads and access to online mathematical programmes. Over time, these teachers overcame the challenges of teaching without a textbook and embraced new methods of teaching mathematics and could see the benefits from such approaches, hoping to incorporate some of these methods into their mathematics instruction when they return to Ireland. This research study can contribute to the understanding of difficulties similar Irish teachers will face in their transition to the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum (PMC) (NCCA, 2020) in Ireland and what can be done to support them as they move to a system with less of an emphasis on textbooks. Returning teachers can offer valuable insights into a system that is
moving in a direction that is less reliant on textbooks whilst also acknowledging that the Irish system is not nearly as well-resourced as what they experienced in the UAE. These findings could also provide some guidance for teachers who are thinking of moving to an international school, and give them a sense of what they are likely to encounter as they transition from a
curriculum and school culture they are familiar with. | en |
