Numeracy: Media hype and innumeracy
Consider the following headers or bylines foundinternational newspapers in an online search
- Our kids can't add-up (The Courier-Mail)
- Alarming slip in high school numeracy levels (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Quality lacking in secondary schools (The Age)
Before you buy into these headings, take a step back to critically examine the phenomenonon which they make their assumptions. It struck me recently to hear a radio announcer claim that a test that had been developed in the 1960s and passed by most of those who sat it at that time, was failed by many students in contemporary classrooms. The figure was staggering.
But it does raise a serious question that needs to be considered by all those advocating the demise of young people's numeracy. I am sure that if many parents had to come into contemporary classrooms, they would have difficulty passing several of the assessments setfor young Australians. How many over 40s could develop a website that is part of the NewBasics Year 3 rich task? Imagine reporting that most adults would fail a Year 3 task if theyhad to come back to school...
What must be considered in all of this public debate is that times have changed, work andknowledge have changed and so has numeracy.
When I went to primary school, the curriculum was about numbers and arithmetic. We hadto work in inches, feet, yards and miles; ounces, pounds and stones; or pounds, shillings andpence. Thank goodness for the metric system where everything is in base 10. Further, theimpact of technology (and its affordability) has freed up the labour needs of calculating toenable learners to move to more sophisticated thinking.
Calculators and a range of other technologies allow everyone to work so much moreefficiently. Imagine how difficult it would be to undertake business or economics withoutcalculators or software programs such as MYOB; or statistics without software programssuch as SPSS; or architecture or construction without CAD programs. One needs tounderstand the thinking behind the programs but not the need to do the tedious calculationsthat were once strongly a part of teaching in these areas. Focusing on the technicalcalculations denies the power of these tools to advance thinking about bigger issues.
The 'basic skills' reported in the media are representations of old forms of knowledgeneeded for very different times. In contemporary life, new forms of numeracy are needed.On almost every page of the newspaper, there are statistics of some sort. Living in a datadrenchedworld requires Australians to be familiar with statistics. The complexity of financialmarkets and their impact on daily life-mortgages, lines of credit, superannuation, HECSpayments-permeate the lives of young people that were not central of previous histories.As such, the nature and demands of numeracy are changing. Testing and reporting based onold numeracies fails to identify the new and emerging numeracies of contemporary life.
Schools may not be failing to produce numerate graduates-for university or for work.Rather the societies within which we live are changing rapidly, creating new ways of knowingand learning. Numeracy, as part of these changing worlds, is also changing so perceptions ofwhat is a numerate learner also needs to change.
Professor Robyn Zevenbergen is the director of the Griffith Institute forEducational Research.