Meeting the Numeracy

Challenge – Executive Summary

A development strategy for numeracy in Adult Basic Education

(01) 855 4332 literacy@nala.ie www.nala.ie

Meeting the Numeracy
Challenge – Executive Summary
A development strategy for numeracy in Adult Basic Education

Incorporating a strategy for the further development of Adult Numeracy in Ireland,

and its integration into all Adult Literacy and Adult Basic Education provision
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge

Published by

National Adult Literacy Agency

76 Lower Gardiner Street,
Dublin 1.

© 2004 National Adult Literacy Agency

The copyright in this report belongs to

the National Adult Literacy Agency.
 Executive Summary

Introduction Definition of Numeracy

The NALA mission statement is to ensure The working group looked at a number
all adults with literacy difficulties have of definitions of numeracy and numerate
access to high quality learning behaviour from across the world, and
opportunities. In working towards this then proposed its own definition, as
mission, one of the objectives identified by follows:
our members and included in our
Strategic Plan 2002–2006 is to develop
and promote a dedicated numeracy
strategy for Ireland2. Numeracy is a lifeskill that involves
the competent use of mathematical
In the Autumn of 2002, as a starting
language, knowledge and skills.
point in producing its dedicated
Numerate adults have the confidence
Numeracy Strategy and Development
to manage the mathematical
Plan, NALA carried out an audit of
demands of real-life situations such
current numeracy provision in ABE
as everyday living, work-related
settings in Ireland.
settings and in further education,
NALA also put together a working group so that effective choices are made in
comprising representatives of relevant our evolving technological and
stakeholders, with a brief to look at and knowledge-based society.
report on current adult numeracy issues,
and to produce a proposed strategic plan
for adult numeracy. The group met
monthly from December 2002 through to
May 2003.
This resulting report discusses the
findings of the recent NALA adult
numeracy survey in the context of the
issues it raises for adult numeracy
provision.

2 “NALA will: … develop and promote a dedicated numeracy strategy”

(The National Adult Literacy Agency, Strategic Plan 2002–2006, Step 6, p17).

3
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge
International developments
and practice in adult numeracy
The Adult Literacy and Life skills (ALL)
Survey that is currently taking place
internationally (Ireland is not
participating), is a follow-up to the
International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS)
which did include Ireland and which was
carried out in 1997 by the Education
Research Centre in co-operation with the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD).
The ALL survey will explicitly survey the
numeracy abilities of adults (the survey
also includes Document and Prose
Literacy and problem solving). It is a
comparative survey that is being jointly
developed by Statistics Canada and by
the United States’ National Centre for
Education Statistics (NCES), in
cooperation with the OECD.
The countries with the most interesting
developments in adult numeracy outside
Ireland are Australia, Canada, Denmark,
the United Kingdom and the USA. The
report describes these developments in
some detail3, and summarises them as
follows:
1. Australia
It may be seen that Australia has a well-
developed provision for numeracy, which
incorporates professional development for
the tutors in the field. This level of
provision has been achieved despite the fact
that numeracy continues to be defined
within literacy in the body of national policy
documentation.
2. Britain
Britain has recognised the importance of
building up the numeracy capability in
the population and has also recognised
3 Research on international developments by kind permission of Terry Maguire and the University of
Limerick (taken from “Engendering Numeracy in Adult Mathematics Education with a Focus on Tutors:
A Grounded Approach” – Maguire, unpublished PhD, University of Limerick, May 2003).
4
that the foundation for this objective is
set in the early school years. It is the only
country which has put in place a
numeracy curriculum that extends
throughout all levels of the education
system.
3. Canada
In Canada adult numeracy is more
developed in some areas than others, with
Ontario leading the way. Their integrated
basic skills programme includes numeracy
with an emphasis on skills-based
outcomes. There are also national ‘Skills
profiles’ related to 150 occupations and
these include a numeracy element.
4. Denmark
The approach taken in Denmark has
been to address definition, curriculum
and professional development
simultaneously, in a single concentrated
and ambitious phase of development. No
other country has been so coherent in its
evolution of numeracy provision.
5. USA
There is no national policy on numeracy
in the USA, but a Framework for Adult
Numeracy Standards was published by
the National Institute for Literacy in
1996. This identifies seven themes
essential to adult mathematical literacy
and supports four key purposes for
numeracy learning as identified by adult
learners. Two interesting support
organisations exist: the Making Math Real
Institute (MMRI) in Pennsylvania support
tutors who lack confidence in their own
Maths skills; and the Adult Numeracy
Network (ANN) supports numeracy
tutors whilst also aiming to influence
policy and practice.
Adult Numeracy
in Ireland –
National policy
and practice
Background and
Government Policy
In Ireland, adult numeracy is explicitly
contained within NALA’s definition of
adult literacy, and therefore is implicitly
represented within all of the aims,
objectives and action steps in the NALA
Strategic Plan 2002–2006. Developing a
numeracy strategy is also one of the core
objectives of this Strategic Plan.
The Government’s Green Paper Adult
Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning
(1998), similarly states, “In keeping with
existing practice in the literacy services
and the scope of the International Adult
Literacy Survey, any reference to literacy
in this paper should be interpreted as
covering numeracy skills also.” It also
adds, “Tackling low literacy/numeracy
levels must rank as the primary adult
education priority in Ireland.4”
Numeracy is also contained within the
adult literacy agenda of the new National
Adult Literacy Programme, and
workplace numeracy is specifically
mentioned within the ‘Tackling
Educational Disadvantage’ Special
Initiative of the Government’s new
national Social Partnership Agreement
for 2003–2005, ‘Sustaining Progress’
(2003)5.
4 “Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning”, Government of Ireland, November 1998,
pp68–69
5 “Sustaining Progress, Social Partnership Agreement 2003-2005”, Chapter 2, Section 2.8, p30.
5
Adult numeracy provision
At present in Ireland, adult numeracy is
being delivered within both VEC literacy
schemes and other ABE settings, and has
been incorporated in most aspects of
adult literacy provision – promotion,
training, tuition, regional and national
forums, distance learning
(Time4Learning radio programme), the
NALA Quality Framework and the NALA
Assessment Framework.
The current situation benefits from the
extensive nature of the range of
provision that is offered by the different
organisations that are working to meet
the needs of adult learners. However
there is a serious lack of consistency in
the level and quality of numeracy
provision nationally.
A contributing factor is the lack of a unified
concept of numeracy amongst service
providers, who are not operating to a
generally agreed vision or concept of
numeracy in the context of ABE in Ireland.
It is important that a consistency of
approach is applied across the ABE sector
and that service providers have a clear,
national definition of numeracy to follow in
providing numeracy services and when
interpreting published government policy
documents.
A partial picture of the actual type and
extent of current provision is to be found
in the findings of the NALA Adult
Numeracy survey which are given in Part
3 of the full report.
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge

Tutor training Increased promotion of adult numeracy

The White Paper in Adult Education is therefore needed, and this should be
(Department of Education and Science, targeted at providers, tutors and adult
2000) recognised the need to have “a learners.
highly trained corps of adult educators”6
to underpin the Adult Education sector Extent of current adult numeracy
in Ireland. It is in fact widely accepted problem
that adult numeracy tutors have a vital There are no separate figures for
contribution to make in raising the level numeracy within the Department of
of numeracy of the adult population. Education and Science’s statistics for
adult literacy, and therefore no
There is now a significant amount of in-
comprehensive accurate up-to-date
service numeracy training available for
statistics on the current adult numeracy
tutors via NALA, and this is increasing all
provision in Ireland or the actual
the time, including new numeracy
number of adult numeracy learners.
workshops and training for working with
Numeracy and Farming. The recent NALA adult numeracy survey
results give an incomplete picture, as the
There is also accredited tutor training in
survey reached just over 400 providers
numeracy through NALA/WIT, and in
out of whom only 121 (just over 25%)
fact the numeracy module from WIT was
responded. Also no definition of “adult
the second module to be made generally
numeracy” was given out with the survey
available as a single certificate and is now
questionnaire. This means that,
the third most popular course.
inevitably, respondents would have had
However, as the findings of the NALA varied understanding of the meaning
numeracy survey in Part 3 of the full and contexts for numeracy and how this
report clearly show, there is a need to differs from basic maths.
further develop numeracy training in
This fact does not however negate the
order to satisfy tutor training needs.
findings of the survey and the issues
These developments need to take into
these findings raise for the future
account the fact that some ABE settings
development of adult numeracy in
are not part of the NALA membership
Ireland.
and therefore may not be able to access
training as easily as those who are
members.
Findings of the NALA adult
numeracy survey
Awareness and profile of adult This part of the full report gives an
numeracy outline of the present situation regarding
For various reasons, numeracy does not adult numeracy in Ireland, based on the
have as high a profile as other parts of recent NALA numeracy survey.
adult literacy, and awareness levels
amongst ABE providers, adult literacy
tutors and the general public would seem
to be comparatively low.

6 “Learning For Life: White Paper on Adult Education”, Government of Ireland, July 2000, p150.

6
Research methodology used
in the survey
This adult numeracy survey, and its use
as part of the formulation of NALA’s
adult numeracy strategy, was informed by
members and stakeholders in the
following ways:
Survey respondents
The number of questionnaires returned
was 121. These were made up of:

VEC Adult Literacy schemes – 62

Other ABE settings – 59
 Youthreach – 17
 NTDI – 10

The initial idea for the numeracy  Community Training Workshops

strategy came from the NALA (CTWs) – 8

membership.  Training Centres – 7

The numeracy survey  VTOS – 7

questionnaire was sent to over 400  Prisons – 6

organisations from adult literacy  Other – 4

and other ABE settings. The findings are presented in terms of

Key stakeholders were represented the issues they raised:
on the NALA numeracy working
Awareness
group.
Tutor resources

This report will also be disseminated to
Tutor training

all NALA members and key stakeholders
Provision of tuition

in adult literacy and numeracy in
Learner participation

Ireland.
Numeracy content

Assessment

Survey recipients
Accreditation

The survey questionnaire was sent to all
VEC Adult Literacy Schemes and to a
range of other ABE settings, including
Youthreach, Community Training
Workshops, NTDI centres, Training
Centres, VTOS centres and Prison
Education Units. Just over 400
questionnaires were sent out..

Materials

Promotion

Development needs
Recommendations
Recommendations for development
arising from the survey findings are
included at the end of each of the
relevant sections of the full report.
A complete “List of Recommendations”,
based on both the survey findings and
other research carried out by the
working group, is also to be found in the
full report.

7
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge
Conclusion
Although there is already a significant
amount of adult numeracy provision
within adult literacy schemes and other
adult basic education settings, there is a
need at present to raise awareness of
numeracy and give it a higher profile
within adult literacy in Ireland. This
mirrors similar experience and
developments in other countries, which
are at varying stages of this process.
Research into international developments
has shown that approaches to defining
and delivering adult numeracy have
varied widely and that adult numeracy as
a whole is still in an early stage of
development.
Approaches that have shown some
noticeable benefits internationally include
the following:

a clear definition of adult
numeracy, based on the real needs
of adults at this time;

an integrated lifelong learning
approach to numeracy provision,
looking at educational needs from
school through to adult learning;

a methodology for the delivery of
adult numeracy provision, based
on an agreed definition of
numeracy;

an accessible, high quality tutor
training programme for adult
numeracy tutors;

a national core curriculum for
adult numeracy;

networking opportunities for adult
numeracy tutors;

a range of appropriate adult
numeracy resource materials.
8
Within Ireland, there has already been
some progress in integrating adult
numeracy into core adult literacy and
other ABE provision, including
workplace literacy, family literacy and
intensive literacy programmes. There is
much to be said for encouraging further
integration of numeracy in this way.
However, there is also a proven need to
promote awareness of adult numeracy in
its own right, so that there is a greater
understanding of what numeracy means,
and its importance in the quality of adult
lives. This awareness-raising for ABE
providers and other relevant
organisations, and for potential tutors
and learners, needs to take place
nationally, regionally and locally.
Additional resources are also required, in
order to develop the capacity for both a
suitably trained cohort of adult numeracy
tutors and a wide range of accessible
quality numeracy provision. These need
to be backed up by an increased amount
of resource materials and networking for
adult numeracy tutors.
These developments will enable adult
learners to develop their numeracy
capacity and numerate behaviour within
a variety of contexts, whether at work, at
home, in a social context or within
further education. This in turn will lead
to increased competence in the many
areas of life that involve some form of
numeracy, and a growing self-confidence
among learners in their own abilities.
The potential benefits in terms of
personal empowerment and active
citizenship are significant, and it is hoped
that some of the positive effects of an
enhanced numeracy provision will be:

reduced inequalities in learning
opportunities;

less social exclusion;

sustained economic
competitiveness.
The NALA Adult Numeracy Strategy
2003–2006 puts in place a development
plan for actions that will both raise
awareness levels and achieve success in
further developing adult numeracy
provision in line with the
recommendations of this report. It is
hoped that the necessary resources can
be put in place to deliver the full strategy
and its benefits.

9
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge

List of Recommendations7
(Suggested responsibilities in parentheses)

Development Worker Resource materials

Create role of NALA Numeracy
Development Worker, either as a
new post or within capacity of
existing development work roles.
(NALA)
Tutor training

Include numeracy as an explicit
and integral part of all initial
training of adult literacy tutors,
and have this initial numeracy
training at local level accredited
appropriately. (VECs/ABE
providers/NALA)

Establish a numeracy training
programme development group,
via the Training Advisory Group,
to review training needs and
further develop a nationally
recognised, accessible numeracy
tutor training programme. (NALA)

Review numeracy resources that
are currently available nationally
and internationally, and prioritise
key areas for research and
development. (NALA)

Have a numeracy specialist on the
new NALA materials working
group and editorial group. (NALA)

Produce a basic resource package
for adult numeracy. (NALA
materials working group)

Provide a methodology and
support for the development of a
range of resource materials,
including computer software,
appropriate for different ability
levels and target groups. (NALA
materials working group)
Integration of numeracy
into all adult literacy and
ABE provision

Further develop the integration of
numeracy into all adult literacy
and other ABE provision, e.g. core
provision, workplace literacy,
family literacy and intensive
literacy programmes. (NALA,
VECs, ABE providers)

7 Note: This is the complete list of recommendations. These recommendations also appear within the
report, attached to the relevant section for the issue or issues concerned. Some of the
recommendations appear more than once within the report.
Many of the recommendations are also directly linked to the action steps set out in the proposed
NALA Adult Numeracy Strategy, which is included in this report.

10

Networking

Facilitate and support an adult
numeracy network, such that
organisers and tutors can exchange
ideas and resources. (NALA website
and fora)

Facilitate regular adult numeracy
network events at regional and
national level. (NALA fora)
Assessment and accreditation

Provide an enhanced NALA
assessment framework for adult
numeracy, with a number of stages
below foundation level. (NALA)

Establish a nationally accredited
adult numeracy core curriculum as
part of an adult literacy curriculum
which is linked to the new NALA
Assessment Framework.
(NALA/FETAC working group)

Develop nationally recognised
certification in adult numeracy.
(NALA/FETAC working group)

Produce a clear path of
progression options for adult
numeracy, including the option of
accreditation at a national level.
(NALA/FETAC)
Awareness and promotion

Devise and deliver a specific
Numeracy Awareness Training
programme that can also be
adapted for incorporation as an
integral part of a revised Literacy
Awareness Training programme
(NALA)

Increase resources for adult
numeracy, to integrate numeracy
into other literacy and ABE
provision, and to make it clear that
numeracy is part of their provision.
(VECs/ABE providers)
11


Devise a promotional strategy that
will appeal to the real needs and
interests of potential adult
numeracy learners, as well as
allaying any fears that they may
have concerning their previous
experiences of maths (NALA)

Provide promotional material and
methods specifically to attract new
adult numeracy tutors both
nationally and at a regional and
local level (NALA)

Specifically promote adult
numeracy to parents through
schools, as an aid to helping
children with their maths
homework. (VECs/ABE providers)

Carry out a high-profile national
campaign to promote adult
numeracy provision, at such a time
as resources are sufficient to cover
potential demand. (NALA)
Monitoring of provision

Collect and record adult numeracy
statistics as a separate item within
the overall data for adult literacy.
(Department of Education and
Science/VECs/ABE providers)
Meeting the Numeracy Challenge

Notes

12
 In the Autumn of 2002, as a starting point in producing its dedicated
Numeracy Strategy and Development Plan, NALA carried out an audit of
current numeracy provision in ABE settings in Ireland. NALA also put
together a working group comprising representatives of relevant stakeholders,
with a brief to look at and report on current adult numeracy issues, and to
produce a proposed strategic plan for adult numeracy. This resulting report
discusses the findings of the recent NALA adult numeracy survey in the
context of the issues it raises for adult numeracy provision.

National Adult Literacy Agency

76 Lower Gardiner Street
Dublin 1
(01) 855 4332 literacy@nala.ie www.nala.ie

NALA Cork NALA Mullingar

c/o VTSU Building Education & Employment Centre
Tramore Road Austin Friar Street
Cork Mullingar
Phone: (021) 4317011 Co Westmeath
Fax: (021) 431 5054 Phone: (044) 42111
Email: mmurray@nala.ie Fax: (044) 45834
Email: pkiernan@nala.ie