Adults’ numeracy practices in fluid and unstable contexts—An agenda for education, policy and research?

Numeracy practices are always dependent on the social context in which they emerge. These contexts, however, are unstable because of a range of technological and socio-political changes. How does this instability affect people’s agency in the world? After reviewing key approaches to numeracy practices research, we distil key findings from recent numeracy studies. We introduce the concept of the numerate environment to examine the context in which opportunities, supports and demands present themselves for people’s numeracy development, explaining how cultural-historical activity theory can be used to analyse the effects of changes in numerate environments. We consider examples of social trends likely to effect such changes and conclude with implications of shifts in people’s numerate environment for future educational provision, policy and research

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

The Role of National Media in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Policy: a Case Study from Australia

© 2019, Ontario Institute for Educat. Studies. In 2013, the OECD released its findings from the Survey of Adult Skills (SAS) which assessed adults’ skills in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environments in 22 countries. OECD initiatives like SAS and PISA have been the subject of critical policy studies, particularly in relation to their influence on national policymaking. National media as actors in these policy contexts have been the focus of some of these policy studies. Using a methodology informed by actor network theory (ANT), this study examines the Australian media’s responses to the release of the country’s SAS results, whilst making historical and international comparisons to uncover factors that mobilise the media to become a policy actor

Educating critical mathematics educators: Challenges for teacher educators

When contemplating this question, there are at least three possible areas to examine: the mathematics that the teacher will teach (critical mathematics); tire teacher's pedagogy (critical mathematics pedagogy); or the teacher educator's pedagogy (critical mathematics or numeracy teacher education pedagogy). In this paper I will focus mainly on the second and the third; however,l wiII argue that all three are intimately linked in creating spaces and places where critical mathematics can be a focus of learning. However, to create these spaces and places a key area that adult numeracy teachers and adult numeracy teacher educators need to, and moreover are well placed to engage with, is educational policy because as 1 will argue in this chapter, it is precisely the predisposition to quantitative thinking by bureaucrats and politicians that has contri buted significantly to the marginalization of the broader aims ofleaming in adulthood

Level 3: Another single measure of adult literacy and numeracy

In reporting the Australian results of the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, Adult literacy and life skills survey, summary results, Australia, 2008a, p. 5) stated that of the five internationally identified levels of literacy and numeracy in the survey, Level 3 is regarded by the survey developers as the 'minimum required for individuals to meet the complex demands of everyday life in the emerging knowledge-based economy'. In effect, this Level 3 criterion, in the wake of traditional functional literacy/illiteracy dichotomies, creates yet another 'single measure' through which to distinguish those who can from those who cannot function in society. The Level 3 criterion and the accompanying verbatim quote have since been cited extensively by powerful institutions, including government, industry and skills in their promotion of a crisis discourse in adult literacy and numeracy. This has led in turn to national policy responses on 'foundation skills' and nationally agreed performance targets (by the Council of Australian Governments) for skills and workforce development based on the ALLS Level 3. In this paper we question the validity, origin and significance of the Level 3 criterion and contend that highlighting this aspect in the reporting of the ALLS has resulted in a narrow and unbalanced perspective on the role of literacy and numeracy in society. © 2013 The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc

A comparative analysis of national media responses to the OECD survey of adult skills: policy making from the global to the local?

OECD’s Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is put forward as a landmark development in the lifelong monitoring and international comparison of education. PIAAC’s first round of the Survey of Adult Skills compared performance in Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments across 24 countries. However, the translation of any OECD agenda into national policies is mediated by many actors including the media. This paper examines and compares how national media of Japan, England and France reported on the PIAAC results of their countries, and the extent to which these reports mirror key messages from the OECD’s Country Notes. It begins to trace how the OECD PIAAC agendas materialise into national policies. Although their role in this initial period was limited, we argue the roles of the media together with other policy actors must be monitored as they interact to shape possibilities for sustainable adult education policies

Research that counts: OECD statistics and ‘policy entrepreneurs’ impacting on Australian adult literacy and numeracy policy

© 2016 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education (ARPCE). This paper analyses research that has impacted on Australia’s most recent national policy document on adult literacy and numeracy, the National Foundation Skills Strategy (NFSS). The paper draws in part on Lingard’s 2013 paper, ‘The impact of research on education policy in an era of evidence-based policy’, in which he outlines the distinction between research for and of policy. The former is privileged in education policy formation and comprises largely statistical evidence (i.e., ‘policy as numbers’), often drawing on the globalised authority of organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), along with research commissioned by policy makers and undertaken by ‘policy entrepreneurs’. Research of policy represents academically oriented research, which is often qualitative, seeks new knowledge and may challenge the status quo. Through an analysis of studies cited in and thus impacting on the NFSS, we detail the main authors of research for policy and indicate their ideological commitment to the neoliberal agenda that now dominates the adult literacy and numeracy field in Australia and other OECD countries. Research of policy in this context has had little policy impact, but is nevertheless promoted by the authors as a means of countering the current reductionist discourses of adult literacy and numeracy reflected in national policy

Between immediacy and imagination: the place of the educator and organiser in union renewal

© 2010, © 2010 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Can the current education programme of the Australian trade union movement contribute to reviving union growth and union culture, develop new activists and leaders, and encourage and facilitate the organisational change needed to re-orient unions to develop broader alliances? Twenty-five Australian trade union leaders were asked to describe the educational activities of their unions and to assess the education provided by the Australian Council of Trade Unions' (ACTU) national Education and Campaign Centre (ECC). Analysis of their responses reveals a number of structural, organisational and pedagogical challenges for delivering a national union education programme. It also raises questions of how education can support a union movement trying to convince new layers of workers that unionism can be a dynamic, forward-looking, social movement. The article outlines the existing course framework as a means of understanding the scope of current educational provision. Drawing on interviewee observations and Newman's concept of three contracts in union education, it considers the roles of educator and of organiser, and how an understanding of these roles is currently expressed by union leaders. We conclude with some questions about ways that the union movement might consider the relationship between education and union renewal

Time for National Renewal: Australian adult literacy and numeracy as `foundation skills'

In this paper we highlight four dimensions of the adult literacy and numeracy field which we consider should be incorporated in a new strategy. We draw on recent work on social capital which has direct implications for social inclusion, but also for complementing the human capital rationale for adult literacy and numeracy. We link this work to calls for more cross-sectoral partnerships, and we then highlight an area of VET that should receive greater prominence in a national strategy, the integration of literacy and numeracy in the delivery of VET courses. Finally, we consider professional learning and partnerships with universities in adult literacy and numeracy, and how the field can be revitalised

Education at the centre? Australia's national union education program

Australian trade unions are at a pivotal moment. In 2007-2008, a review of the training and education programs of the Education and Campaign Centre (ECC), the education arm of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), was conducted through a series of interviews with leaders of twenty-fve unions. The review found that Australian unions do not generally view education as a core strategic activity, and many see the ECC simply as a training provider that they could access if they did not have their own trainers. We argue that there are greater possibilities for a national education centre than are currently being contemplated by the union leaders. A key to realising these possibilities lies in unions articulating a shared purpose for union education, and its role in supporting leaders, offcials, delegates and activists in the continuing challenges they face in their work