Effective numeracy practice

Defining numeracy | Effective numeracy practice | Numeracy and mathematics

This section emphasises the relationship between numeracy and effective mathematics teaching. Read a summary of the characteristics demonstrated by effective teachers of numeracy, and see how numeracy fits in the context of the New Zealand mathematics curriculum statement.

The concept of numeracy has been widely debated internationally without singular agreement. A broad definition has been adopted in New Zealand and published in Curriculum Update 45:

To be numerate is to have the ability and inclination to use mathematics effectively – at home, at work and in the community.

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/governance/curric_updates/curr_update45_e.php

Effective teachers of numeracy demonstrate some distinctive characteristics.

These teachers:

• have high expectations of students' success in numeracy;
• emphasise the connections between different mathematical ideas;
• promote the selection and use of strategies that are efficient and effective and emphasise the development of mental skills;
• challenge students to think by explaining, listening, and problem solving;
• encourage purposeful discussion, in whole classes, in small groups, and with individual students;
• use systematic assessment and recording methods to monitor student progress and to record their strategies for calculation to inform planning and teaching.
  
  Askew, M. et al. (2000). Effective teachers of numeracy. London: King's College.

Numeracy arises out of effective mathematics teaching. All the strands within Mathematics in the New Zealand Curriculum are important in the pathway to numeracy. Number is central to this pathway, although the relative emphasis on this strand changes with the stages of schooling:

• In the first four years of schooling the main emphasis of mathematics should be on the number strand.
• In the middle and upper primary years of schooling the emphasis of mathematics is spread across the strands of the curriculum.
• Towards the end of compulsory schooling number sense becomes a tool for use across the other strands.

At all stages students should:

• develop an understanding of numbers, the ways they are represented, and the quantities for which they stand;
• develop accuracy, efficiency and confidence in calculating – mentally, on paper, and with a calculator;
• develop the ability to estimate and to make approximations, and to be alert to the reasonableness of results and measurements.

These achievement aims enable students to develop the ability and inclination to use mathematics to solve problems in a range of contexts.

The general aims of mathematics education in New Zealand define the features of school programmes that contribute to the development of numerate people. Such programmes:

• help students to develop a belief in the value of mathematics and its usefulness, nurture confidence in their own mathematical ability, foster a sense of personal achievement, and encourage a continuing and creative interest in mathematics;
• develop in students the skills, concepts, understandings, and attitudes which will enable them to cope confidently with everyday life;
• help students to develop a variety of approaches to solving problems involving mathematics, and to develop the ability to think and reason logically;
• help students to achieve the mathematical and statistical literacy needed in a society which is technologically oriented and information rich;
• provide students with the mathematical tools, skills, understandings, and attitudes they will require in the world of work;
• provide a foundation for those students who may continue studies in mathematics or other learning areas where mathematical concepts are central;
• help to foster and develop mathematical talent.

Although the groundwork is laid in mathematics, other curriculum areas provide opportunities for numeracy learning. In addition, the home, early childhood settings and the community, assist in the development of numeracy.