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The
Development of Numeracy Worldwide in a Nutshell
Mieke van
Groenestijn
(Netherlands)
Background of numeracy in Europe.
Numeracy has, in fact, a long tradition in Europe.
After the second world war many literacy activities started in several
European countries in the fifties and sixties, often church-based and
work-based. It was a main point of attention for UNESCO and the OECD,
organizations which started in 1945 and 1947, just after the war, to rebuild
and reorganize the countries which had been involved in both world wars, in
order to restore and re-develop Europe as an economic and cultural society.
Many adults missed parts of their school years due to the wars. Courses
often included literacy and some arithmetic/ mathematics: the things people
really needed to be able to organize their lives. The concept of
numeracy was already there in European countries far before the word
numeracy was created; even the English word ‘numeracy’. The focus was
on the three R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic. Since the sixties
education for adults has become more widespread and better organized in
institutions like the Folkshochschule in Germany and Austria and the
Volkshogeschool in the Netherlands, in Denmark (Rasmussen, 2006), and in
Open School settings. The need for permanent education for adults was
already clear at that time. In the eighties Adult Basic Education was
started. Literacy and numeracy were the main issues. This was a European
based initiative from the OECD (van Groenestijn, 2002).
Numeracy worldwide
Meanwhile it became clear that the problem of functional illiteracy and
innumeracy was not only a temporary European problem due to the world wars.
It was a worldwide problem.
The British survey “Make it Count” from David Stringer in 1979 (Cockcroft,
1982) mentioned that
“There
are indeed many adults in Britain who have the greatest difficulty with
even such apparently simple matters as adding up money, checking their
change in shops or working out the cost of five gallons of petrol. Yet
these adults are not just the unintelligent or the uneducated. They come
from many walks of life and some are very highly educated indeed, but they
are hopeless at arithmetic and they want to do something about it.”
Cockcroft’s
conclusion was that
“During
this investigation the firm impression has built up - in the
investigator’s mind, at least - that functional innumeracy is far more
widespread than anyone has cared to believe.”
(Cockcroft 1982, chapter 2, page 5)
In other parts
of the world literacy and numeracy was also an important issue — for example
in Brazil where Paulo Freire started his campaign against illiteracy. His
book “pedagogy of the Oppressed (Freire, 1970) became famous all over the
world. His theory of adult learning was well-received in many countries.
In Australia the Education Department of Western Australia (Reeves, 1994;
Willis, 1990) published in 1977 a policy paper on literacy and numeracy
which stated:
“A person is considered to be literate and numerate when he has acquired the
skills and concepts which enable him to function effectively in his group
and community, and when his attainment in reading, writing and mathematics
make it possible for him to continue to use these skills to further his own
and his community’s development.”
In the United States the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) was conducted
in 1992. In this study the three components of literacy as used in YALS,
i.e. prose, document and quantitative literacy, were assessed on a
five-level scale. (Dossey, 1997). Briefly summarized, the conclusions were
that “....roughly 50% of American adults would either have major
difficulty with or be fully unable to handle real world tasks……” (Gal,
1993, p.2)
In the United States the terms mathematical literacy and
quantitative literacy were used, rather than numeracy, but with the same
meaning. However, in adult education the word ‘numeracy’ is used.
Numeracy in the twenty-first century
Nowadays there is a worldwide awareness of the need for literacy and
numeracy.
The results of the International Adults Literacy Skills survey (IALS),
organized by OECD, showed that about one-third of the adults in western
countries have not acquired the necessary basic skills on literacy and
numeracy they need to function optimally in our contemporary knowledge
society (OECD, 1997) .
The ALL Survey, the follow up of IALS, is a second point of measure to
examine if there has been any improvement since the previous survey. A next
measure point will be the PIAAC in 2010, focusing on competences.
A main point of concern and for discussion is what adults really need to be
able to function optimally as citizens in a continuously changing knowledge
society.
School-based mathematics alone is no longer sufficient for people to be
equipped for the future.
In 1997 it was declared at the UNESCO World Conference in Hamburg that
“The recognition of the Right to Education and the Right to Learn throughout
life is more than ever a necessity; it is the right to read and write, the
right to question and analyse, the right to have access to resources, and to
develop and practise individual and collective skills and competences”.
(UNESCO, 1997, article 12)
In this frame the EMMA network is a good initiative for organizing numeracy
experts in European countries. In this way the partners have an opportunity
to exchange information about numeracy activities and developments in the
partner countries and what could be needed on a European basis. It also
offers the opportunity to create a common basis for further development of
future numeracy programs in Europe.
References
Cockcroft, W.H. (1982). Mathematics Counts: Report of the Commission of
Inquiry
into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools.
London, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office
Dossey, John A. (1997) National Indicators of Quantitative Literacy.
in: Steen, Lynn Arthur (ed): Why Numbers Count. Quantitative Literacy for
Tomorrow's America.
New York, College Entrance Examination Board.
Freire, Paulo (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed
New York, Herder and Herder
Gal, Iddo (1993) Issues and Challenges in Adult Numeracy.
Technical Report TR93-15, National Center of Adult Literacy, University of
Pennsylvania
Groenestijn, Mieke van (2002). A Gateway to Numeracy. A Study of Numeracy in
Adult Basic
Education
CD β Press, Centrum voor Didactiek van Wiskunde, Universiteit Utrecht, 2002
ISBN: 90-73346-47-9
OECD (1997): Literacy Skills for the Knowledge Society; Further results
from the
International Adult Literacy Survey
Canada, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Human
resources Development Canada and the Minister responsible for Statistics
Canada.
UNESCO (1997): Declaration of the fifth International Conference on Adult
Education. Hamburg,
14-18 July 1997
Rasmussen, A. & Rasmussen, P. (2006). Transformation of educational
knowledge in work contexts. VET & Culture conference 2006: Divergence and
convergence in education and work. [Retrieved October 5, 2006 from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.peda.net/veraja/uta/vetculture
Reeves, Howard (1994). Numeracy, a background discussion paper
Tasmania, Department of Education and the Arts
(article from Internet)
Willis, Sue (ed). (1990) Being numerate: What Counts.
Melbourne, Australia, Australian Council for Educational Research |
