Wednesday 20 April 2016

Adult numeracy - is there a problem?


I am in the process of updating my literature review and am finding all sorts of interesting things.  The statements below are taken from Professor Diana Coben's presentation found here:

http://www.alice.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/alicech/dokumente/sveb/projekte/Pr%C3%A4sentation_Coben.pdf

She notes:
Use value and exchange value are both necessary.

50% of employers are dissatisfied with the basic numeracy of UK school leavers.

Many firms see a grade C or above in maths and English at GCSE as a benchmark of employability. But this year barely half (55.2%) hit that standard in maths (CBI, 2007)


I'd love to see some New Zealand research. I wonder what we would find?


References.

CBI (2007) CBI applauds GCSE students but gaps in basic skills remain nightmare for firms. Press Release, 23 August, 2007. http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/ bc6e9d1d3b30a71f80257340003830ad?OpenDocument

5 comments:

  1. is that a rhetorical question...?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's a question for your literature review: Is there any evidence that skills are transferable? I.e from the classroom to the real world, and from one domain to another even within a classroom environment...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I think we could both have a good guess as to the answer. As to question two. I'll be in a better position to answer at a later time - but plenty of research to show 'street' maths and 'classroom' maths are very different and possibly have less crossover than many presume.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's another one for your literature review then: Has anyone looked at the effects of perceptual learning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_learning) on literacy or numeracy skills development?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't think so. Not adult literacy and numeracy anyway.

    ReplyDelete