Towards a common European Strategy on numeracy?

The first cycle of PIAAC (OECD, 2016) showed that around 20% - 25% of the workforce in the participating countries scored at level 1 or below in the numeracy scale, making it a problem as big, or arguably even bigger, than the number of people scoring low on literacy. The lack of numeracy skills among these people increases the risk of unemployment and may influence family life and social inclusion. In particular, low-skilled workers are at risk in the labour market, particularly when faced with adaptations in the labour market. 

The Council of the European Union emphasises that adult learning is a means for upskilling or reskilling those affected by unemployment, restructuring and career transition, while simultaneously it makes an important contribution towards social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development. The recommendation on Upskilling Pathways states that the lack of sufficient basic skills can lead to complex challenges in societies:

“Low-qualified people with fundamental weaknesses in basic skills may constitute a high proportion of the unemployed (in particular long-term unemployed) and other vulnerable groups, for instance older workers, economically inactive people and third-country nationals. Such weaknesses make it more difficult for them to enter or return to the labour market.” 

The European Council recommends the enhancement of basic skills including literacy, numeracy, problem-solving and digital skills as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy. See for instance the New European Agenda for Adult Learning (2021-2030).

In the frame of lifelong learning, therefore, adult numeracy education has an important role in the development of good programs for basic skills for the future.

A short history of the conceptual development of numeracy

The concept of numeracy first appeared in the 1950s. Numeracy evolved from being associated to “basic arithmetic skills” towards a broader concept, referring to someone’s ability to interpret data and make connections that allow him or her to understand business, science and technology. In 1982, the Cockroft report Mathematics Counts stated that being numerate means “having an ‘at-homeness’ with numbers” and “the ability to have some appreciation and understanding of information which is presented in mathematical terms” (p. 11). 

In the second phase of numeracy definitions, it was conceptualized as “mathematics in context, or mathematics in everyday life.” Different authors defined numeracy in realistic situations, bringing together components such as “making meaning about mathematics in real everyday settings”, “mathematics in context”, “everyday numeracy thinking” and so forth. 

In 1997, Dave Tout made a significant contribution to the international discussion introducing another dimension to the concept: being numerate means being critical. Gal, van Groenestijn, Schmitt, Tout and Clermont created the ALL Numeracy Group. They operationalized the term “numeracy” and introduced for the first time the term “numerate behaviour”.

In the 2000s the term numeracy evolved towards a more integrated concept with cultural, social, personal and emotional factors. Coben, O’Donoghue and FitzSimons (2000) published their Perspectives on Adults Learning Mathematics, an international handbook collecting the main contributions in ALM at that moment. In her chapter, FitzSimons organized her discussion concerning the adult learner of mathematics using a “macro- or institutional level” (including a social, cultural and political perspective), a “meso-or structural level”, and a “micro-or personal  operational or subjective level.” Numeracy has been discussed in workplace contexts (nurses, cabinetmakers, farmers, warehouse pickers, etc.), in cultural settings, in social practices, etc. 

Current trends in defining numeracy suggest that it is a social practice (Yasukawa et al, 2018), which means numeracy is historically and culturally situated. More information can be found in an array of reviews about numeracy by Gal (1993 and 2000), FitzSimons & Godden (2000), Coben et al. (2003), FitzSimons (2004),  Coben (2006), Morton, McGuire, & Baynham (2006), Tout & Gal (2015), Díez-Palomar & Hoogland (2023). The changing nature of numeracy as a basic skill by Hoogland (2023) is recently published.

International collaboration on numeracy development

Numeracy has been one of the main concerns for governments around the world since the 1950s. We are living in a numerate society, full of codes, data, uncertainty, and people do need to use numeracy skills to deal with that. 

In the Erasmus+ project Common European Numeracy Framework (CENF) (2018-2021) a comprehensive numeracy framework was developed to identify key factors in improving the quality of numerate behaviour of individuals. In short, the objective of this project was to first develop a Common European Numeracy Framework and secondly to expand and to improve the number and the quality of numeracy courses (or other relevant educational endeavours) offered to adults to improve their chances of prospering in society. To reach this objective, we used a multi-level approach for addressing teachers and volunteers that are involved in the delivery of numeracy courses, the teacher educators who deliver courses to those teachers and volunteers, and policy makers and other stakeholders who are responsible for creating opportunities for such courses. 

This multilevel approach already has started by connecting the associated partners to our goals in this application. HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, The Netherlands, was in charge of the project and worked closely together with project partners BFI-OÖ, Linz, Austria, University of Barcelona, Spain, and University of Limerick, Ireland. In a follow-up Erasmus+ project, Numeracy in Practice (2022-2024), the framework will be elaborated and validated through activities in the (international) practice of numeracy education of adults. Participating countries are: Ireland, The Netherlands (project leader), Belgium, Poland, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, and Türkiye.

What matters to improve numerate behaviour?

The figure below, with the four main aspects that matter to improve numerate behaviour, has a central place in the Common European Numeracy Framework. The concept of numeracy and numerate behaviour encompasses more than just mathematical or computational knowledge and skills. It is about managing all kinds of situations that require mathematical insight, knowledge and skills, as described in the PIAAC definition. Competencies which enable individuals to adequate actions in such situations need further elaboration. Higher-order skills, dispositions with regard to mathematics, and the situation in which mathematical activities take place, play an essential role. 

The use of mathematical knowledge and skills (content) in daily life is always situation-specific (in context). The quality of the mathematical action depends on how the person relates himself to his or her mathematical knowledge and skills (dispositions) and the extent to which he/she can oversee and control a situation (higher order skills). Each of the four aspects plays a role in one way or another in every situation.  We will elaborate a bit on the four aspects.

Aspects of Numerate behaviour

Context

Numerate behaviour is always embedded in a context. Some numeracy takes place in everyday life such as in daily activities of the individual such as cooking. Numeracy can also be in the context of work and professional settings, ranging from such as simple lists of numbers to complex algorithm-driven applications.  The last category is media and public life such as data visualizations. Each activity in adult education will probably be related to at least one of the context situations. This may depend on how provisions for adults have been organized. Courses related to work, for example, will have a clear focus on the work situation, but may also focus on more general topics for the individual participants. Courses organized for financial literacy will have a clear focus on budgeting. Courses meant for second language learners may also focus on further learning.

Higher order skills

Higher order skills matter to improve numerate behaviour. The skills mentioned can be found in some frameworks regarding mathematics or numeracy. There is an overlap with so-called 21st century skills. Every individual – whatever his/her cognitive abilities and experiences – uses higher order skills. Everybody makes decisions, reasons, and processes information. Obviously these skills can also be improved by many individuals. These skills include managing and analysing situations, but also critical thinking and problem-solving.

Content

Content knowledge and skills matter to improve numerate behaviour. The first four subcategories – quantity and number; dimension and shape, pattern, relationship and change; data and chance; –  can be found in most frameworks regarding mathematics or numeracy outside the formal school system. They can be considered as the contemporary replacements of the Algebra-and-Geometry-division which dominated the 19th and 20th century.  The use of (digital) tools and applications is another set of subcategories, which nowadays matters to cope with situations in our digitalised society.

Disposition

Adult numeracy dispositions develop over the course of life, starting from childhood and compulsory school. They depend on people’s own capabilities, beliefs and feelings concerning mathematics, but are also influenced by external positive and negative experiences: how and what mathematics was learned in schools & experiences in lived-in situations. Students who perform better on school mathematics, lead to good math and numeracy dispositions: feeling confident with numbers, pleasure with numbers, and recognizing the usefulness of mathematics. Conversely, students with negative experiences may develop negative feelings for numbers, less self-confidence or even math-anxiety. The disappointment when receiving low marks for mathematics may have enormous influence on numeracy capacities of the future adult.

Evidence-based policies and activities on numeracy as a basic skill

Evidence-informed adult numeracy education may be the key to attaining the goals set out in the Europe 2020 strategy. In most European countries, adult numeracy education is a locally based endeavour with a plethora of practices, some efficient, some less so. Furthermore, there are a variety of underlying assumptions on what constitutes good adult numeracy education. A collection of (piloted) professional development modules, based on the CENF are now created and published on the website cenf.eu.

We hope that this will contribute to a high-quality adult numeracy education across Europe, and thereby contribute to policies and activities which address the low-numeracy levels and the improvement of basic skills in many European countries. Effective numeracy education in European countries, based on a common framework, may lead to a higher level of societal participation and inclusion of adults, and thereby to improvement of the European economy.

Let us know!

This article aimed at presenting a brief overview of the latest updates in developing numeracy resources and numeracy professional development. It aims at more awareness of the fact that numeracy, together with literacy and digital skills are the cornerstone of nowadays’ basic skills.

We invite all our readers to share their own experiences and materials on numeracy with us!

About the author

The author of this blog post is Kees Hoogland, professor of Mathematical and Analytical Competences of Professionals at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (The Netherlands) and member of the EBSN EC.