Technology, data use, and digitisation are based on mathematical structures, and this permeates many aspects of our daily lives: apps, online activities, and all kinds of communication. Equipping people to deal with this mathematisation of society is a big challenge. Which competences are needed, which skills must be mastered? Which dispositions are helpful? These are the questions that matter in the development of adult education. The concept of numeracy is mentioned already for many years as a possible useful approach to equip adults with the necessary skills. In this paper we will argue that is only true when numeracy is defined as a multifaceted concept which combines knowledges, skills, higher order skills, context and dispositions.
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Adults’ development of literacy and numeracy skills that can enable them to navigate the demands of contemporary life and be prepared for the future is central to their economic, social, and personal well-being and the functioning of society. This article discusses the role of literacy and numeracy in adult learning and education, beginning with the current status of literacy and numeracy skills in OECD countries and economies. Explored are the types of frameworks and standards that are used to guide adults’ acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills and approaches to delivering instructional and supportive services for those adults. The article concludes with challenges and considerations in strengthening literacy and numeracy as critical components of adult learning and education.
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This paper is a summary paper of the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Adult Mathematics Education (AME). As the only thematic working group that focuses on adults’ lived experiences of mathematics, the research makes an important contribution to the field of Mathematics Education. The main themes in this group identify that adult numerical behaviour goes beyond the mathematics skills, knowledge, and procedures taught in formal education It is multifaceted, requiring the use of higher order skills of analysis and judgement, applied within a broad array of life’s contexts, experienced through a range of emotions. The research in this group points to the need to raise the profile of research that shows the benefits to adults of learning mathematics but also the long term economic disbenefits in the neglect of teaching and teacher training for this group.
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This work draws on the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey. Last year a first review was conducted on the PIAAC Numeracy Framework (Tout. et al., 2017). In 2018 and 2019 the framework for the second cycle of PIAAC will be developed. This second cycle of the PIAAC survey aims to update the data about the numeracy skills of adults in different countries around the World (Hoogland, Díez-Palomar, Maguire, 2019). The objective of this paper is to highlight some relevant findings from literature on the concept numeracy in order to discuss a potential enrichment of the PIAAC Numeracy Assessment Framework (NAF).
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Conducting large calculations manually with pen and paper following prescribed procedures or algorithms has been diminishing in significance for some time. In most cultures, and for many years already, individuals employ digital instruments for such computational tasks, when confronted with them in daily life. Yet, a closer examination of prevalent practices in the teaching of basic numeracy skills in adult education reveals a persistent emphasis on mastering standardized manual calculation techniques, especially with abstract and decontextualized numbers. This emphasis predominantly stems from the belief that mastering these manual procedures forms the cornerstone of all numeracy abilities. Contrastingly, our research indicates that the numeracy skills most frequently utilized and required in contemporary professions and daily activities encompass higher-order capabilities (Hoogland and Stoker, 2021; Boels et al., 2022; Hoogland and Díez-Palomar, 2022). These include interpretation, reasoning, mathematizing, estimation, critical reflection on quantitative data, and the application of digital instruments for computation. It is imperative, therefore, that numeracy education for adults prioritizes these competencies to achieve efficacy.
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The aim of this paper is to present materials designed for adult numeracy training. In the successive Erasmus+ projects, "The Common European Numeracy Framework" (2018-2021) and "Numeracy in Practice" (2022-2024), professional development modules have been designed for teachers specialising in adult numeracy education. The primary objective of these modules is to enhance teacher awareness of the competencies required for teaching numeracy and to address the changing demands of numeracy in adults’ personal and professional lives.
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The main objective of this dissertation is to examine, both theoretically and empirically, the specific requirements of a blended learning instructional model aimed at facilitating higher education adult-learners into online interaction. Three objectives were formulated: Objective 1: to investigate adult-learners’ perceived satisfaction in relation to blended learning and the factors that foster their interaction with the ‘added’ online mode; and a thorough understanding of adult-learners’ educational needs and learning characteristics derived from theory. Objective 2: to understand the factors of social presence and convergence, and how these can be ingrained into design principles that foster online interaction. Objective 3: to explore the specifics of an instructional model for the design of a blended learning environment for adult-learners in higher education, both theoretically and empirically, and how said principles can be actualised in a validated model.
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This paper is a summary paper of the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Adult Mathematics Education (AME). The theme AME made its first appearance on CERME11 and in this paper we provide an overview of the growing and blossoming field of AME and the results of the working group. The main themes associated with AME are: the definition, scope, and assessment of numeracy, the role of language and dialogue, the role of affect, including motivation, and the role of societal power structures, including subthemes like equity, inclusion, vulnerable learners, agency and self-efficacy. We conclude with the opportunities and challenges for this theme from both scientific and societal perspective.
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PURPOSE: To determine what is known from the literature about nursing care of psychiatric patients with a history of child maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric nurses underline the importance of a routine inquiry of child abuse on admission of patients to psychiatric care, but are reluctant to ask about child abuse. They often feel insufficiently competent to respond effectively to patients with a history of child maltreatment. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Psychiatric nurses need training in how to assess a history of child abuse and the late-life consequences of abuse in adult psychiatric patients. They also need to be trained to respond effectively to these patients.
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We assess the incidence of numeracy skills mismatch in five countries: Belgium, Chile, Italy, Netherlands, and the United States of America. To do this, we make use of a new approach (Brun-Schamme & Rey, 2021), namely by identifying someone as being mismatched if the score for numeracy skills is outside the interval [median – SD , median + SD]. We make use of the PIAAC dataset, collected by the OECD, a survey that measures adults’ proficiency in numeracy among other type of skills. We find that 14% of the workers are over-skilled, whereas 16% are under-skilled. Being over-skilled is more likely for men, younger age-groups, having a high level of education, using numeracy skills often at work, and having studied science, mathematics, and engineering.
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