ALM32

The conference theme for ALM32 was:

Learning from the past and building for the future: international views of adults learning mathematics

The conference included opportunities to:

• review what we have learned about adults learning mathematics and numeracy over the last few decades
• discuss how current research and practice might be used to build  the future of adult learning in this area
• consider how the mathematics learning histories and trajectories of adults can inform future practice

We were delighted to welcome the following keynote speakers to ALM32: Diana Coben (Emeritus Professor of Adult Numeracy, King’s College London, UK); Jeremy Hodgen (Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham, University College London, UK and Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Paul Milner (Programmes Director; National Numeracy, UK) and Andrew Noyes (Professor of Education; University of Nottingham, UK).

Diana Coben (Founding Chair of ALM and Emeritus Professor of Adult Numeracy, King’s College London, UK)

Professor Diana Coben, PhD FRSA FHEA, is Emeritus Professor of Adult Numeracy at King’s College London. She was Founding Chair and is an Honorary Trustee of Adults Learning Mathematics (ALM). She was also a founder-member of the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC), established in England by the UK government in 2002. From 2011 until her retirement in 2018 she was Director of New Zealand’s National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults and Professor of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. After returning to the UK in 2018 she joined the Expert Group brought together by UNESCO’s Institute of Lifelong Learning to advise on monitoring United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.6: “By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy”, a goal to which she remains committed, although she’d substitute “all” for “a substantial proportion of” adults!

Diana addressed the question below in her keynote presentation.

Taking courage and taking stock: What do we know and what do we (still) need to know about adults learning mathematics in these troubled times?

In 1992 the overwhelming international response to my article, ‘What do we need to know? Issues in numeracy research’, led to the founding of Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum (ALM). Ten years later, at the ALM9 conference, I reviewed progress so far in a largely optimistic vein. I feel less optimistic now. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, at a time of geopolitical upheaval, it seems timely to take stock: to look back at what has been achieved and forward to what remains to be done, mindful of the courage required to meet present and future challenges in an ethical and sustainable way. Against this background I ask: what do we know and what do we (still) need to know about adults learning mathematics in these troubled times?

Andrew Noyes (Professor of Education, University of Nottingham)

Andy joined the University of Nottingham in 2001 after teaching mathematics in a Nottinghamshire secondary school and is the founding Director of the Observatory for Mathematical Education. He was the Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK from 2018-24 and is a longstanding member of the Royal Society’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education. Andy is on the advisory boards of several major research projects and intervention programmes. Andy’s research interests are focused on mathematics education and 14-19 learner participation, pathways and policy. He was Head of the School of Education from 2014-18 and Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Social Science) from 2018-20.

Andy discussed various aspects of his research in mathematics education and the implications for adults learning mathematics.

Mathematics pathways: stories, systems and strategies

For several decades, England has been wrestling with the problem of improving 14-19 mathematics learning pathways across academic, vocational and technical education.  Many young adults have left formal education underprepared for their future learning, lives and employment. In this talk Andy will briefly set out this history, focusing on some of the recent moves in further education.  He will then consider where we are now – including some reflections on national and international data – and how current agendas in policy, research and advocacy are reimagining and reshaping mathematical futures. As part of this he will explain how the Observatory for Mathematical Education, based at the University of Nottingham, is helping to understand and improve this complex mathematical educational system.

Paul Milner (Programmes Director, National Numeracy, UK)

With a degree in Mathematics and over 20 years’ business management experience, Paul Milner is the Programmes Director at National Numeracy, having joined the UK charity soon after it formed in 2012. Paul has managed the development and launch of the Essentials of Numeracy and the National Numeracy Challenge and oversees the team’s programmatic work to improve numeracy across the UK.

Paul talked about the work of the National Numeracy organisation:

National Numeracy – strategy, research and and impact

He will share National Numeracy’s new strategy, research on the impact of low numeracy in the UK, and data from the National Numeracy Challenge online learning platform. This will illustrate the characteristics and behaviours of adults using the provision to check and improve their maths, and show how their skills and confidence vary by age, gender, location, motivation, and whether or not they already have a maths qualification.

Jeremy Hodgen (Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham)

Jeremy Hodgen is a Professor of Mathematics Education with extensive expertise in all aspects of mathematics education. He has published widely on mathematics education, teacher education, assessment, international comparisons and standards over time and the design and evaluation of educational interventions. His current research projects include a systematic review of effective ways of teaching mathematics in secondary education and a comparison of different approaches to grouping students for mathematics lessons in England. His Nuffield Foundation funded reports examining participation in post-16 mathematics have been highly influential. He has been a member of the Royal Society’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) and Chair of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSRLM) and has served on the then Prime Minister’s Expert Advisory Group on Maths to 18. Currently, he also holds professorial positions at University College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and was previously a Professor of Mathematics Education at King’s College London.

Jeremy gave a presentation about the following question, as he explains below.

Learning lessons from educational experiments: What might ‘work’ for adults learning mathematics?

Over the past two decades, there has been a vast increase in the experimental evidence about the ‘effectiveness’ of mathematics teaching interventions, much of it in large scale trials. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to school-age learners. In this presentation, I will discuss and critique this evidence drawing on several recent systematic reviews. I will then consider the implications of this body of work for adults learning mathematics. Finally, I will consider what can, and cannot, be learnt from educational trials.

The Programme Committee includes:

Catherine Byrne, Diana Coben, Diane Dalby, Graham Griffiths and David Kaye.

The local Organising Group includes:

Diane Dalby, Marie Joubert, Jenny Norris, Inga Steinberg and other members of the Observatory for Mathematics Education at the University of Nottingham.