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ALM is an international research forum bringing together researchers and practitioners in adult mathematics/numeracy teaching and learning in order to promote the learning of mathematics by adults.
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ALM bulletin September 2025
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As many of us are settling into a new academic or school year, there is often a sense of expectation about what we hope to achieve, either for ourselves, our research communities, or for our students. The ALM trustees are working on ways to support researchers and teachers by bringing our community together more frequently in the coming months, whilst planning for another face-to-face conference next summer and working on a special journal issue.
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Alongside the expectation of new experiences, we are also sad to say goodbye to former members of ALM who have passed away. Earlier this year we lost a long-standing ALM member, Kees Hoogland (a presentation in remembrance of Kees can be found here) and this month sadly we say farewell to a founding member and lifelong supporter of ALM, Joan O’Hagan. Joan’s enthusiasm and energy were an inspiration to many, and she will be very much missed. We include a short piece about Joan in this bulletin but hope to add a further tribute in due course.
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Please read on for further news and do get in touch if you can help with any of the requests that follow in this bulletin.
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Diane Dalby
Chair of ALM trustees
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ALM32
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We are delighted to be going to Oslo, Norway, in 2026 for our next annual conference. The dates for the conference and further details will be confirmed soon in a separate announcement but it is not too early to start thinking about material for a presentation or workshop that you can offer.
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Farewell to Joan O’Hagan
From Diana Coben, ALM Founding Chair
My friend Joan O’Hagan, who died on September 12th, 2025, aged 75, was a gifted adult mathematics educator who co-founded ALM with me, organising the first ALM conferences (ALM0 and ALM1) at Fircroft College Birmingham in the early 1990s and contributing fun-packed and enlightening sessions to several ALM conferences since then. Joan never stopped asking questions about her practice and her students' learning. Her 2014 submission to the UK Parliament sets out her approach and outlines her career: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/48359/html/.
She was passionately committed to social justice and after she retired, she taught mathematics to refugees as a volunteer. RIP Joan.
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You can view a photograph of Joan here (second from right) with other ALM colleagues.
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Projects - past and present
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We would like to dedicate space on our website for information about projects that focus on Adult Leaning Mathematics. This could include national and international studies (past and present) as well as smaller local projects and relevant doctoral theses. If you are aware of projects that could be of interest, please could you email the ALM Chair at chair@alm-online.net with your suggestions, including if possible a link to the project website or a short summary.
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ALM International Journal
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The editorial team and ALM Maths in Prisons topic group are currently working on a special issue about adults learning mathematics in prison settings. If you have ideas for a relevant paper for this special issue, either a research or practitioner paper, please do get in touch with Catherine Byrne at secretary@alm-online.net. You might also find it useful to look at the guidance available about writing and submitting a paper to the ALM International Journal at https://alm-online.net/alm-journal/.
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Virtual seminar series
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A new series of seminars for 2025/26 is being planned. Please look out for further announcements by email.
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Conference proceeding - ALM and CERME
The conference proceedings from ALM 30 and ALM 31 can be accessed via the website by clicking on the relevant conference links. Thank you to all those who have contributed to these and especially to the editors: Trude Sundtjønn for ALM 31; and Niamh O’Meara for ALM 30, assisted by Javier Diez-Palomar.
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Conference proceedings from CERME14 are now available online here. These contain papers presented within the topic group "Mathematics for work, society and personal development - lifelong learning" (TWG07) at the CERME conference in Bolzano, including several papers about adults learning mathematics that ALM members will find interesting. The topic group will meet again at the next CERME in Bratislava, in February 2027.
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International Community on Numeracy Education
This is a new independent network, following from the successful Numeracy / Mathematical Literacy Topic Study Group at ICME in Sydney (July 2024) and an International Numeracy Symposium held in Galway, Ireland, in March 2025. The focus is on numeracy generally rather than adults, but ALM members and supporters may find some of the community’s proposed online seminar series of interest. Each seminar will feature a paper presentation from an international Numeracy expert, followed by opportunities for participants to engage in discussion with the presenter and attendees.
At their first seminar on 30 October 2025, (16:00 – 17:00 UTC/GMT+2) Iddo Gal will be the guest speaker and his topic will be 'Adult Numeracy in a Changing World'. Sarah Bansilal from South Africa will be the guest speaker at their second seminar on 4 December 2025. You can register for the seminar at https://bit.ly/numeracyseminar1 or find further information here.
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Could you host a future ALM conference?
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Whilst seeking to make use of online opportunities for our ALM community to meet, for seminars or conferences, the ALM trustees are still keen to offer face-to-face ALM conferences, even if it is not possible to do so every year. We are therefore looking for venues around the world, preferably at low cost and with accessible travel options. If you might be able to host an ALM conference in the future or would just like to have a chat about what this involves, please contact Diane Dalby at chair@alm-online.net.
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Future bulletins
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We hope that you are enjoying the regular ALM bulletin. If you have news from your part of the world or know of projects that may be of interest to our international community, please email the information to Lena Lindenskov at lenali@edu.au.dk by November 1st 2025 for the next bulletin.
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Privacy Policy
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We do not send advertisements. We do not send data to third parties. Your membership data are stored offline. You can always ask to have your data removed permanently by sending a request to the membership secretary.
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