Despite the clear and obvious need for adults to be proficient in numeracy, international studies suggest that many continue to struggle in this area. In Ireland, one of the main challenges continues to be the availability of effective adult numeracy education. This is a diverse sector, and little is known about the varied provision of adult…

A key commitment of the Adult Literacy for Life Strategy (2021) is to reduce the number of adults in Ireland with unmet numeracy needs from 25% to 12%. One of the main challenges in achieving this is the varied provision of adult numeracy education. Many numeracy practitioners are either employed parttime or are volunteers with few opportunities…

The numerical ability of Irish students in international and national assessments is weaker than for literacy, particularly among higher-performing students. The aim of this study was to design a national teacher professional development programme to encourage teachers at post-primary level to develop numeracy competency across the post-primary…

Ireland's government placed a renewed focus on the teaching and learning of numeracy with the publication of a national strategy in 2011. Whole-school planning for numeracy was already a requirement for disadvantaged schools also known as Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) in Ireland. This single site case study explored how a…

In 2014 the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) published a research report titled "What Really Counts Next: Action Learning Project with Numeracy Tutors" (Sellers and Byrne, 2014). The report provided an in-depth insight into the way tutors made changes to their practice, and offered practical tips on how to teach numeracy to adult…

Increased attention to integrated approaches has resulted from demands to prioritise literacy learning while maintaining a balanced curriculum in primary schools. Limited empirical evidence to support integrated approaches to teaching physical education (PE) exists. This study explored the integration of PE content learning and the learning of…

This "Pan-Canadian Snapshot" explores the competencies needed to work with adults participating in Literacy and/or Essential Skills (L/ES) programs in Canada. The purpose of the "Snapshot" is to: (1) lay a foundation from which to explore the topic of professionalism; (2) identify the types of supports that the L/ES workforce…