Primary school teachers often avoid teaching science and using inquiry-based methods asthey feel they have insufficient conceptual and pedagogical knowledge (Jarvis & Pell 2004,Murphy et al. 2007). Research indicates that the provision of appropriate Continuous
Professional Development (CPD) could help remediate some of teachers’ concerns
(Murphy et al. 2015). In 2014/2015, 23 Irish Primary schools participated in a pilot
National CPD programme that was developed by Science Foundation Ireland. This was awhole-school, three by two hour programme aimed at developing primary teachers’confidence and competence in utilising more child-led inquiry-based approaches toteaching science. This paper reports on an evaluation that examined the impact thisprogramme had on these primary teachers’ experiences of, attitudes towards andconfidence in teaching science. Questionnaires were administered and interviewsconducted prior to and at the end of the CPD programme. In addition, a follow-up surveywas conducted a year after the programme to establish whether participation in theprogramme had any longer-term effects on participants’ approaches to and attitudestowards teaching science. The findings from the evaluation revealed that a significant
majority of the participants reported that participation in the CPD programme had a
positive impact on their attitudes towards teaching science and that they felt more confidentteaching science through inquiry. While there was a significant, positive impact onteachers’ confidence in teaching all strand units of the primary science curriculum (DES,1999) the most significant change in teachers’ reported confidence was apparent in thestrand units that were explicitly addressed in the workshops. The findings also revealed asignificant increase in the number of teachers who reported that as a result of participating
in the programme they now teach science more frequently each month and more frequentlyadopt more child-led, inquiry-based approaches to teaching science. Participantsmaintained that the three by two-hour workshop, whole-school approach that was adoptedin this CPD programme was a significant factor in the programme’s success.