It has long been orthodoxy among adult educators that those who teach adults need to take into account the existing knowledge, practices, perceptions and expectations of the learners. This is true at both central level where curricula and teaching-learning materials are developed and at local level where adult teacher/facilitator meets adult…

Two studies were carried out to examine the persistence (Study 1) and characteristics (Study 2) of mathematics learning disability (MLD) in girls with Turner syndrome or fragile X during the primary school years (ages 5-9 years). In Study 1, the rate of MLD for each syndrome group exceeded the rate observed in a grade-matched comparison group,…

Purpose: To establish the existence of barriers to communication and numeracy skills development and to establish the levels of these exhibited by accounting and business students at the commencement of their courses in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Uses questionnaires to establish the levels of communication apprehension (CA) and…

The term "quantitative literacy" is used in this article to reinforce its importance in catering for reform-based curricula in Australia. The medium chosen for the problems discussed in this paper is the newspaper. The purpose of this article is to tie together traditional views of the importance of problem solving with the current aims…

In this article, the authors visited with the Arsenal Double Club Coordinator, Scott an amateur footballer, and a career teacher who is able to bring his considerable experience and administrative skill to the project. The authors were delighted to realise that they were talking to a teacher committed to what is first and foremost an educational…

Drawing on a perspective of mathematics as situated social practice, we focus on 4 children in an urban preschool classroom and follow those children between home and school sites to shed light on urban children's persistent underachievement in mathematics. In this article, we describe the ways in which numeracy practices travel with children…

The study set out to investigate the impact of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) on teacher--pupil interaction at Key Stage 2 in the teaching of literacy and numeracy. As part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, IWBs have been made widely available as a pedagogic tool for promoting interactive whole class teaching. In order to…

Literacy educators have been actively theorising the demands of literacy in New Times yet mathematics educators have taken little of this debate up. If, as literacy educators suggest, literacy demands are different in these New Times, what are the implications for numeracy or mathematics educators? This paper explores perceptions of young and…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has introduced a Numeracy Project for students aged 5-14 years in selected schools. The project encourages the adoption of flexible strategies for solving numerical problems, and discourages reliance on standard computational algorithms. One potential benefit of the project is that the methods students acquire…

This paper presents an overview of events in Aotearoa/New Zealand mathematics education over the past decade or so. We begin with the curriculum reforms of the 1990s that led to the development of the current mathematics curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1992), and document developments in policy, resources and approaches to teaching. There has…

It has just been announced that the 11th European Prison Education Association (EPEA) International Conference will take place in Dublin, Ireland from the 13th to 17th June 2007. Further details and an application form will be available in September 2006. Regular updates will be available at www.epea.org.

In this paper we develop our theory of "Bi-numeracy" and show the importance of children's own invented symbolism. Most studies to date have concentrated on the analysis of children's number representations in clinically set-up tasks (Hughes, 1986; Sinclair, 1988; Munn, 1994). These studies have added to our knowledge of and…

Recognition of the importance of the early childhood years in the development of numeracy is a significant characteristic of the New Zealand Numeracy Development Project, the Victorian Early Numeracy Research Project and the Count Me In Too program in New South Wales, Australia. This article outlines the background, key components and major…

Literacy has been studied extensively in the context of children's play, but few studies exist of numeracy development through play. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of numeracy exchanges that occurred spontaneously during parent-child play. Twenty-six 4-year-olds and their mothers played with a variety of toys,…

This study examined non-accredited community language, literacy and numeracy provision in Australia. A diverse range of providers assist many adults who do not need or cannot yet cope with accredited training. Growth in self-confidence appears as important as development of literacy and numeracy skills, with teachers and tutors playing a key role…