Adult Numeracy Research Articles

Lack of employment: the threat to numeracy

National Child Development Study (NCDS) data are used to examine the negative impact of time out of paid employment on numeracy, as measured by a maths test at 16 and a functional numeracy test at 37. Restricting the sample to respondents who left full‐time education at 16 and accounting for maths at 16, we found negative correlations between time out of paid employment and adult numeracy scores. Using the whole sample, adult numeracy scores were regressed on maths at 16, family background and adult experiences. The longer the absence from paid employment, the greater the negative impact on adult numeracy. The relationship was strongest for men with poor maths at 16. This suggested that a certain level of maths was needed before skills were retained and not weakened by absence from paid employment. Training offered some protection against skill loss, as did women’s more diverse roles at home and work.

Becoming a Teacher of Adult Numeracy

Becoming a Teacher of Adult Numeracy

Teaching ‘not less than maths, but more’: an overview of recent developments in adult numeracy teacher development in England, with a sidelong glance at Australia

In this article the authors draw on our experience in teaching, teacher education and research in the field of adult numeracy. An overview is given of recent developments in the preparation, professional development and accreditation of adult numeracy teachers in England, with some reference to parallel developments in adult literacy. This is set in a wider international context through a brief review of recent developments in adult numeracy teacher education in Australia.

Humour as an Interpersonal Resource in Adult Numeracy Classes

This paper reports on a research project which investigated the role of language in adult numeracy classrooms. The study brought the resources of systemic functional linguistics, as well as constructs derived from other traditions such as conversational analysis and ethnomethodology that have examined classroom discourse, to bear on the adult numeracy classroom context, asking how are these classrooms constructed in discourse? Drawing on the work of Lemke, we characterise the adult numeracy classroom as a mixed-mode discourse site, in which a number of semiotic modes interact in complex ways to make mathematical meanings. We look at how these classrooms are constructed interpersonally, in particular how features like humour are used to establish and maintain tenor relations and do 'identity work' in the adult classroom.

Assessing mathematical communications about projects and investigations

The provision of valid evidence of learning achievement and the need for accountability are two crucial factors in assessment. Projects and investigations, which provide evidence of communication in mathematics are discussed as a means to the direct assessment of the true objectives of the curriculum meeting the criteria of Eisner (1993). Using the methodology of Griffin and Forwood (1991), developed for adult literacy and numeracy scales, research in UK universities addresses the assessment of such tasks in mathematical modelling, pure mathematics and statistics. Analysis from this research, using item response modelling and the techniques of Linacre (1990) and Adams and Khoo (1992), describes student, judge and descriptor behaviour on rating scales which attempt to assess student achievement comprehensively. This paper focuses on the example of oral communication skills as an illustration. Implications of the research are discussed and questions are raised which require further investigation.

The numbers game–issues in adult numeracy work, edited by Alison Tomlin. Pp 70. £2. 1985. ISBN 0-9510387-0-2 (Hammersmith and Fulham Council for Racial Equality)

The numbers game–issues in adult numeracy work, edited by Alison Tomlin. Pp 70. £2. 1985. ISBN 0-9510387-0-2 (Hammersmith and Fulham Council for Racial Equality)

Learning by Example: a CBT Approach

Abstract The paper describes the development of a computer‐based training system involving the learning by example paradigm. Several forms of structured program are described and these are discussed in relation to the construction of an adaptive control structure. Content areas were adult basic numeracy and literacy skills.

Breaking out of the Package: Educating literacy and numeracy teachers with agency

What knowledge, skills and dispositions are needed by adult numeracy and literacy teachers to help their learners imagine and build better lives for themselves and sustainable futures for their children and community? What resources can teachers draw on to be able to exercise agency as a group of professionals to give voice to the needs and aspirations of their learners? Using the contemporary Australian adult numeracy and literacy context as a point of reflection, I argue that some degree of propensity to take risks is needed by teachers if they are to exercise agency as professional educators, and that the universities have a renewed role to play in creating spaces for educating risk-taking educators.