De-escalating the math anxiety stress- response. Professional Development of vocational teachers and their learners’ confidence in numeracy

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Teacher Professional Development Across the Island of Ireland

Abstract

This paper addresses the need for effective teacher education programmes which help to foster and develop the ability of Further Education lecturers to create learning opportunities in Numeracy across vocational and professional courses (learners 16years +). The OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), highlights the necessity of numeracy proficiency for individuals’ fluid participation in society and industry (Jonas, 2018). Traditionally, Numeracy has been the much-overlooked Key Skill compared to its more glamorous sibling, Literacy. Yet an international awareness has been mounting since the 1990s that numeracy should be made a priority for adults (Tout, 2020). Proficiency in numeracy has significant advantages for an individual and likewise, a numeracy deficit has life limiting consequences. PIAAC reports, since the turn of the 21st century, have recorded significant inequalities in numeracy proficiency between countries and within adult populations (Jones, 2018). Such disparity creates significant gaps between individuals in terms of human capital, social and financial mobility as well as health, well-being and longevity.
On a national level it is estimated that poor numeracy proficiency costs the UK government in excess of 20.2 billion pounds annually. As a result of both economic and social pressures the UK Treasury Office has provided funding across the United Kingdom to support numeracy in an initiative named ‘Multiply’. Northern Ireland has received 6 million pounds of this funding, and the Ulster University project team have secured £1million of this allocation.

Authors

• Aideen Hunter, Ulster University

• Shauna McGill, Ulster University