Numeracy

Numeracy in the spotlight

The issue of how the poor numeracy skills of adults can be addressed is of concern to policy makers, academics, managers and educators alike. This is nothing new, and more recently The Leitch Review of Skills highlighted the important role numeracy plays in the economic development of the UK.

It has been recognised that to achieve the ambitious numeracy targets required by the Government, training, resources and support for educators will be needed. To develop capacity, support will be needed not only for maths/numeracy teachers but also for:

• Literacy or ESOL teachers who may wish to have a second specialism; and
• Union Learning Representatives and other non-specialist Skills for Life teachers who support the development of numeracy within their area of work.

This article will be useful for managers and educators by providing background information, links to resources and ideas which will assist them in the meeting governmental targets.

Information and links to resources in this article are grouped by the following topics:

Supporting numeracy

How can you use the Excellence Gateway to support numeracy?

Assessment and learning

Tools to help managers plan, implement, monitor and provide high-quality assessment to support learners.

Workforce development

Resources to support initial teacher training and continuing professional development.

Programmes to deliver numeracy

Links to resources to help deliver numeracy within a range of contexts and settings.

As a manager you may be concerned about how the refreshed Skills for Life strategy impacts on your organisation. What are the targets? How can you develop capacity and engage learners? How can you look towards delivering flexible and responsive Skills for Life provision and workforce development? Take a look at Topics 1 - 5 for resources and information.

Are you a numeracy tutor feeling the need to be updated on current teaching strategies and initiatives? Take a look at Topics 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Do you want ideas around embedding or integrating numeracy? As a non-numeracy educator you may want ideas and information so you feel more confident supporting the development and embedding of maths/numeracy. Topics 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be of particular interest.

"The Excellence Gateway aims to help transform delivery across the post-16 learning and skills sector by becoming the recognised web channel where practitioners at all levels can access high quality resources and information, inspire innovation and share good practice."