Abstract
The Australian Curriculum identified seven General Capabilities, including numeracy, to be embedded in all learning areas. However, it has been left to individual schools to manage this. Whilst there is a growing body of literature about pedagogies that embed numeracy in various learning areas, there are few studies from the management perspective. A social constructivist perspective and a multiple case study approach were used to explore the actions of school managers and mathematics teachers in three Queensland secondary schools, in order to investigate how they meet the Australian Curriculum requirement to embed numeracy throughout the curriculum. The study found a lack of coordinated cross-curricular approaches to numeracy in any of the schools studied. It illustrates the difficulties that arise when teachers do not share the Australian Curriculum cross-curricular vision of numeracy. Schools and curriculum authorities have not acknowledged the challenges for teachers in implementing cross-curricular numeracy, which include: limited understanding of numeracy; a lack of commitment; and inadequate skills. Successful embedding of numeracy in all learning areas requires: the commitment and support of school leaders, a review of school curriculum documents and pedagogical practices, professional development of teachers, and adequate funding to support these activities.
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Notes
In some countries numeracy is referred to as quantitative literacy or mathematical literacy.
At the time of the study, Queensland schools at secondary level enrolled students from Year 8 (aged 12 or 13 years) to Year 12 (aged 17–18 years).
ICSEA has been developed by ACARA to allow an understanding of the educational advantage or disadvantage of students in a school. It takes account of parental occupation and education, location of the school (metropolitan, regional, rural, or remote), and the proportion of Indigenous students enrolled at the school. The mean ICSEA value is 1000 (ACARA 2013).
A work program is the method used by Queensland schools to ensure the delivery of the Australian Curriculum in a particular learning area. The document typically includes details of the content, timing, resources and methods to be used.
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The authors thank the managers and teachers in the three schools who welcomed the detailed investigation of their management and teaching practices.
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Carter, M.G., Klenowski, V. & Chalmers, C. Challenges in embedding numeracy throughout the curriculum in three Queensland secondary schools. Aust. Educ. Res. 42, 595–611 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-015-0188-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-015-0188-x