|
|
Construction of numeracy concepts
Tine Wedege
Numeracy is an analytical concept, which – in the late 1950s – was
constructed in England as the counterpart to literacy (see the Background
section in Gail FitzSimons’s paper). As you will see in the EMMA debate,
there is a series of distinct concepts of numeracy coming from different
historical, cultural and societal contexts. However, they are all defined
with reference to people’s need of functional mathematical knowledge and
skills in everyday life and/or to society’s requirements of mathematically
competent workers and citizens.
As my contribution to the presentation of and debate on numeracy, I would
like to introduce a matrix making a distinction between four types of
definitions. The aim of doing this is to create a common basis of reference
for the discussion about numeracy. I claim that there are four different
types of constructions combining the two dimensions: approach and
perspective (see table 1). In research on adult numeracy two lines of
approach are possible and necessary: the societal approach (society’s
requirements with regard to numeracy) and the individual approach (individual’s
need of numeracy in his/her life) (Wedege, 2004). Furthermore – as in
mathematics education research (Niss, 1999) there are both descriptive and
normative perspectives on any numeracy issue. With a descriptive
perspective, neutral answers – without any explicit involvement of
values – are sought to the question: What is numeracy? And with a
normative perspective, answers are sought to the question: What ought
numeracy to be? Within this perspective it is necessary to reveal and
explain the values implicated.
|
Perspective Approach |
Descriptive |
Normative |
|
Societal |
(1) what is numeracy
from a societal point of view |
(2) what ought numeracy
to be from a societal point of view |
|
Individual |
(3) what is numeracy
from an individual point of view |
(4) what ought numeracy
to be from an individual point of view |
Table 1.
Perspective and approach in the construction of numeracy concepts
In what
follows I will present four brief definitions of numeracy – one of each type
in table 1 – constructed by members of the international research forum
“Adults Learning Mathematics” (ALM). (1) In the mid 1990s, Lindenskov and I
imported the term from the English speaking countries, translated and
reconstructed a concept of numeracy (Da: numeralitet) in the Danish context.
The approach is societal and the perspective descriptive:
-
Numeracy consists of
functional mathematical skills and understanding that in principle all
people need to have.
-
Numeracy changes in time and space along with social
change and technological development. (Lindenskov and Wedege, 2001:5)
It is the
formulation “in principle all people” which tells us that the approach is
societal. Numeracy is described as a competence people need to have in
society and a competence determined by society and technology. As the second
type of construction (2), I will point to the ALL definition from OECDs
Adult Literacy and Life skills survey in order to have an official and
international definition of numeracy. The approach is societal and the
perspective normative:
Numeracy –
the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage the mathematical
demands of diverse situations. (OECD, 2005 p. 16).
The central
value made explicit in the OECD context is change as a defining feature of
modern life (OECD, 2005 p. 3). In the definition, words like “required” and
“effectively” give a hint of type (2), and when this concept of numeracy is
operationalized in the international survey it has a clear normative and
prescriptive function. The numeracy team, Gal, van Groenestijn, Manly,
Scmitt and Tout, worked out the conceptual framework in 1999 and the items
were produced from an international perspective – necessarily neglecting
that adult numeracy is also a local construction.
The example I have chosen as the third type of definition (3) stems from
Diana Coben (UK), the first chair of ALM. In the beginning of the 2000s she
did a review of research on adult numeracy and here she also presented her
own definition. The approach is individual and the perspective descriptive:
To be
numerate means to be competent, and comfortable with one’s judgements on
whether to use mathematics in a particular situation and if so, what
mathematics to use, how to do it, what degree of accuracy is appropriate,
and what the answer means in relation to the context. (Coben, 2003 p. 10).
The term used
in this definition – and in the next one – is “numerate”, not “numeracy”.
This is a first signal that we are talking about people being competent
in their own life and not about people having a competence defined by
society. As the fourth type of construction (4) I have chosen the
following made by Keiko Yasukawa and Betty Johnston (Australia). The
approach is individual and the perspective normative:
To be
numerate is more than being able to manipulate numbers, or even being able
to 'succeed' in school or university mathematics. Numeracy is a critical
awareness, which builds bridges between mathematics and the real world,
with all its diversity. (Yasakuwa and Johnston, 1994:34)
The value made
explicit in this context is critical citizenship.
The construction
of numeracy concepts always happens within a certain historical, cultural
and societal context with a certain purpose: education, survey, research,
policy etc. In this debate, I find it important for us to recognise the
differences as presented in this paper and the background and perspective of
each specific construction.
References
Coben, D. et al. (2003).
Adult numeracy: review of research and related
literature. London: National Research and Development Centre for Adult
Literacy and Numeracy. (Available October 2006 at
www.nrdc.org.uk )
Lindenskov, L. and Wedege, T. (2001).
Numeracy as an Analytical Tool in
Adult Education and Research. Centre for Research in Learning
Mathematics, Publication no.31, Roskilde University. (Availabe October 2006
at www.statvoks.no/emma/ )
Niss, Mogens (1999). Aspects of the Nature and State of Research in
Mathematics Education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 40, 1-24.
OECD (2005).
Learning a leaving. First results of the adult literacy and
life skills survey. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development.
Wedege, Tine (2004). Mathematics at work: researching adults’
mathematics-containing competences. Nordic Studies in Mathematics
Education, 9 (2), 101-122.
Yasukawa, K. and Johnston, B. (1994). ’A numeracy manifesto for engineers,
primary teachers, historians … a civil society – can we call it theory?’ Proceedings of the Australian Bridging Mathematics Network Conference. (pp.
191-199). Sydney University.
|
