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There is a body of research which highlights the importance of students studying mathematics at an advanced level, hence policy-makers worldwide look for ways to increase the uptake of advanced mathematics. In Ireland, the Government announced the introduction of a Bonus Points Initiative which came into effect in 2012, in an attempt to increase the number of Senior Cycle students opting to study higher-level mathematics and to improve Irish students' mathematical capabilities. Despite a rise in the number of students studying higher-level mathematics, very little research has been conducted to determine if it was the Bonus Points initiative, a reformed mathematics curriculum, or other factors that led to the surge in uptake. To address this gap in the research, this study investigates Irish students' reasons for participating in higher-level mathematics and seeks to determine if such reasons differ across gender, school type, or prior attainment levels. The findings suggest that the points system used by Ireland's Central Applications Office for entry to post-secondary education (CAO, n.d.), in particular the provision of Bonus Points for higher-level mathematics in Ireland, is the main driving factor behind students' participation in higher-level mathematics, with parents also being influential in decision-making. Significant differences in the reasons offered by males and females were found, while prior attainment seemed to have the biggest influence on students' reasoning regardless of gender.

Widening and increasing participation in advanced mathematics studies at upper-secondary level (age 16–18) is a significant challenge for most education systems. Policy makers in Ireland have attempted to address this challenge over the past decade by introducing an incentive to encourage students to study advanced mathematics. This study examines the reasons why students, who would appear to have sufficient prior achievement to enable them to engage in advanced mathematics studies at upper-secondary level, opted not to do so even with the presence of this incentive. Responses to questionnaires completed by 183 students in 10 secondary schools across Ireland were analysed. This analysis indicated that these students tended to avoid engaging in advanced mathematics study at upper-secondary level for a range of reasons. Most cited the expectation that they would struggle or had struggled too much with advanced mathematics. Other commonly cited reasons included the amount of time and effort required to engage effectively in the study of advanced mathematics and the impact this would have on time available to study other subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes an important and original contribution to the updating of methodological approaches to research syntheses. We analysed all 813 Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics from 2003 to 2018, first using a quantitative corpus-survey and qualitative thematic coding and, again, independently, using topic modelling. We found strong convergence between findings from the different methods. We compare our findings to those from an earlier Proceedings review (1995-2002) and to a recent review of the corpus of publications in the "Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and Educational Studies in Mathematics," as well as to a review by the European Society for Research into Learning Mathematics and several other reviews. We found considerable similarity between the issues discussed, and similar trends over time. We conclude that the efficiency of topic modelling makes it a powerful option to include among a range of methodological approaches to research review.

In 2012 mathematics was assigned a special status within the Irish post-primary school curriculum with the introduction of a bonus points initiative (BPI). Students are now awarded additional credit in their upper post-primary school state examination results if they achieve a passing grade in mathematics at higher level. This extra credit will increase the likelihood of these students securing a place on the third-level course of their choice. This incentive was introduced to encourage students to study mathematics at higher level. Anecdotally there have been mixed reviews about the success of the BPI. While the numbers taking higher level mathematics have increased steadily, there have been concerns that many students who are not capable of performing up to the standard required are now opting for the higher level paper and the difficulty of this examination and the marking schemes have been adjusted accordingly. This paper reports on a national study, the first of its kind, that was conducted to investigate teachers' perspectives (N = 266) on the BPI. The authors investigate if the increase in the number of students studying higher level mathematics in Ireland has occurred in tandem with an increase in the mathematical proficiency of students and they ascertain the impact of the BPI on the profile of higher level mathematics classes.

This article examines teachers' perspectives of the impact in the classroom of a novel approach to boosting participation in upper secondary (Senior Cycle) mathematics in Ireland at the most advanced level (Higher Level). This approach, termed the Bonus Points Initiative (BPI), is an incentive which has coincided with a gradual increase from 16% to 31.5% in the proportion of student cohorts opting to complete Higher Level Senior Cycle mathematics studies in Ireland between 2012 and 2018. Qualitative and quantitative data for this study was gathered through questionnaire responses from 266 teachers of Higher Level Senior Cycle mathematics across Ireland. Data analysis led to the identification of a number of emerging challenges for teachers, mainly due to widening ranges of attainment in their classrooms. These challenges include addition to workloads, worries that higher attaining students are being neglected, pressure to cover the syllabus, and concerns with regards to pace of instruction.

Secondary level mathematics education in Ireland has recently experienced a period of significant change with the introduction of new curricula and the addition of an incentive to study upper secondary mathematics at the most advanced level (Higher Level). This incentive, typically referred to as 'bonus points', appears to have aided a significant increase in the number of students studying upper secondary mathematics at Higher Level. However, thematic analysis of interviews with experienced upper secondary mathematics examiners and exploration of mathematics diagnostic test data outlined in this paper suggest that the difficulty of the Higher Level upper secondary mathematics final examination in Ireland has reduced since the introduction of the bonus points initiative. The sharp increase in students attempting this examination coupled with a policy of maintaining a consistent proportion of students achieving passing grades was identified as a key reason for this possible reduction in standards.

The phenomenon in which students enter university under-prepared for the mathematical demands of their undergraduate courses, regularly referred to as the 'Maths Problem', has been widely reported in Ireland, UK, Australia, and the US. This issue has been of particular concern in Ireland recently, with beginning undergraduates' performance of basic mathematical skills showing signs of significant decline in recent years. New mathematics curricula, commonly referred to as "Project Maths", were gradually introduced into the Irish secondary school education system from 2010 onwards. These new curricula aim to place greater emphasis on student understanding of mathematical concepts, use of contexts, and applications of mathematics. This study analyses, through mathematics diagnostic test data gathered between 2008 and 2014, the change in the basic mathematical skills of beginning undergraduates over the time period in which the new mathematics curricula were introduced to secondary education in Ireland. It was found that students' basic mathematical skills have declined over the time period during which the new mathematics curricula were introduced. Significant declines in beginning undergraduates' performance of basic mathematical skills were observed during the period 2008-2014, particularly among students who have achieved Higher Level C grades and Higher Level D grades.

Deficiencies in beginning undergraduate students' basic mathematical skills has been an issue of concern in higher education, particularly in the past 15 years. This issue has been tracked and analysed in a number of universities in Ireland and internationally through student scores recorded in mathematics diagnostic tests. Students beginning their science-based and technology-based undergraduate courses in the University of Limerick have had their basic mathematics skills tested without any prior warning through a 40 question diagnostic test during their initial service mathematics lecture since 1998. Data gathered through this diagnostic test have been recorded in a database kept at the university and explored to track trends in mathematical competency of these beginning undergraduates. This paper details findings surrounding an analysis of the database between 2003 and 2013, outlining changes in mathematical competencies of these beginning undergraduates in an attempt to determine reasons for such changes. The analysis found that the proportion of students tested through this diagnostic test that are predicted to be at risk of failing their service mathematics end-of-semester examinations has increased significantly between 2003 and 2013. Furthermore, when students' performance in secondary level mathematics was controlled, it was determined that the performance of beginning undergraduates in 2013 was statistically significantly below that of the performance of the beginning undergraduates recorded 10 years previously.