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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 January 2025
Welcome to the first bulletin of 2025. Alongside our usual updates there are several items this time that I would like to highlight.
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The first is that the trustees are delighted to confirm that our annual conference in July 2025 will take place at the University of Nottingham, UK. The venue is the Jubilee Hotel and Conference Centre, which is situated on a spacious green campus within easy reach of the city centre. Although the conference announcement is later than we would have wished, we hope this will not deter you from booking the dates and joining us in person. Please note that we are planning to hold the conference for three full days, Wednesday July 9th to Friday July 11th, with an informal welcome session the evening before. For those who can stay a little longer, we are hoping to arrange a social opportunity on Saturday July 12th in the form of a full-day excursion to a place of interest near Nottingham, so do bear this in mind when planning your trip.
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My second highlight is the publication of a new issue of the Adults Learning Mathematics Internal Journal. This is a great achievement for the authors of the papers but also involves a lot of hard work from the editorial team, especially the chief editors Linda Galligan and Lynda Ginsburg. Our thanks go to all the authors and the editorial team.
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I would also like to highlight the article in this bulletin by Javier Diez-Palomar in which he shares his initial thoughts about the recently published PIACC results. These results are of significant international interest, and I am sure will be the subject of further discussions amongst the ALM community in the months to come. Thank you, Javier, for opening up this important topic.
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Please read on for further details of the above, and for new opportunities to get involved with ALM.
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Adults Learning Mathematics - 32 Annual Conference
Dates: Wednesday July 9th – Friday July 11th 2025
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We are delighted to announce that ALM 32 will be held at the Jubilee Hotel and Conference Centre, University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus, Nottingham, UK. The Conference Centre is a modern building with a lakeside location on a spacious university site. Delegates are welcome to stay at the conference hotel on the Jubilee Campus or at other accommodation nearby.
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Further details will be added to the ALM32 webpage as they become available but please do start thinking about offering an individual or group session proposal, either a presentation or workshop, since the programme team will be asking for these soon.
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As mentioned above, the conference will last three full days, and we hope to arrange a social outing on the following day so that those travelling from a distance can see more of the local area.
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Virtual seminars
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We wish to thank David Kaye for two very interesting virtual seminars in November and December 2024:
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· The History of Mathematics Part 1: Numerals and Arithmetic
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· The History of Mathematics Part 2: Mathematical Developments and Teaching Approaches
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We would encourage anyone who missed these seminars, or who would like to revisit them, to access them here: Part 1 can be watched on our YouTube channel here. Part 2: can be watched our YouTube channel in two parts here (part 2:1) and here (part 2:2).
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These seminars show how drawing on 5000 years of global mathematical history across various cultures can help make mathematical concepts more accessible for adult learners, including trainee teachers and numeracy learners. Part 1 focuses on the development of numerals and arithmetic. Part 2 delves into broader mathematical developments beyond numerals and arithmetic, focusing on the educational value of integrating historical mathematical topics into adult numeracy teaching. It shows how to benefit from using mathematical history as a tool, rather than a subject, in mathematics education.
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In 2025 we will continue our virtual seminar series so please watch out for further announcements.
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PIACC results - Some thoughts about the PIAAC results released December 2024
On 10 December, the results of the second cycle of PIAAC were published internationally. PIAAC is a global survey that assesses the skills of the adult population in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. In this second cycle, data was collected during 2022-2023 in a total of 31 countries from around the world. Participants were 16 – 65 years old.
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The findings offer valuable insights for the teaching and learning of mathematics in adult education. As demonstrated by international projects such as the Common European Numeracy Framework and Numeracy in Practice (both funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission), adults' numeracy levels directly influence personal, economic, and societal development. For instance, individuals with high numeracy skills are 11 percentage points more likely to report very good or excellent health compared to those with lower numeracy proficiency—a striking example highlighted by the survey.
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Generally, adults aged 55 to 64 exhibit lower numeracy levels than other age groups. While these results may be influenced by factors such as differing educational policies during their schooling, circumstantial elements (e.g., the timing of the survey during the COVID-19 pandemic), or broader macroeconomic conditions, the overarching trend is clear: older adults display lower levels of numeracy, literacy, and adaptive problem-solving than younger cohorts.
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Socio-demographic characteristics also appear to significantly impact numeracy levels. The data presented in the December report reveal that, even when controlling for variables such as age, educational attainment, gender, immigrant status, language spoken at home, and parents’ educational background, notable disparities in numeracy proficiency persist across many countries. However, exceptions exist, such as Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, and Lithuania, where these factors exert less influence. In most other nations, these variables substantially affect the numeracy skills of the survey participants.
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The PIAAC 2024 data prompt critical reflections on the priorities for adult education in the coming years. Which populations should be at the forefront of adult education policies? From the perspective of mathematics education, it is essential to consider both the characteristics of adult learners attending educational centres and the professional development needs of the educators who work with them. Initiatives like Numeracy in Practice offer training modules designed for adult learners and mathematics teachers (see, for example, https://husite.nl/cenf).
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Organizations such as ALM bear the responsibility of fostering research to enhance resources for teaching mathematics and developing adults’ numeracy skills. Moreover, they must establish a robust foundation for teacher training grounded in scientific evidence, supported by studies such as those referenced here and many others. This is our responsibility (and commitment) for the coming years.
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ALM International Journal
The editors are very happy to announce the publication of ALMIJ’s latest issue, Volume 18(1) December 2024. This is available on the ALMIJ webpage where you can also find all issues of the journal from 2005 onwards. The latest issue includes four research articles with authors from Norway, the US, the UK, and Canada.
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Wiik and Vos from Norway investigate the visual-numeric literacy of readers when looking at COVID-19 pandemic data such as infection and death rates. They interviewed two young adults within higher education but with low confidence in mathematics and asked them to make sense of COVID-19 data visualizations. The authors provide recommendations for improving adults’ visual-numeric literacy.
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Wilder and West from the US evaluated the mathematical autobiographies of 61 college faculty members who participated in a quantitative reasoning development program from 2013 to 2019. The results highlighted both mastery and performance goals as an incentive to learning, as well as seeing mathematics achievement through a positional lens that is conditioned by both structural variables (e.g. teachers) and agency variables (e.g. growth mindset).
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The study by Anagnostopoulou from the UK investigated the use of the immersive features of a role-playing game (RPG), that had been developed as part of a PhD research, to introduce higher level mathematics to adult learners, and examine the mathematical skill gains when they engaged with the game. The quantitative results suggest learning and understanding of mathematical processes concerning basic differentiation rules was significantly increased by playing the game.
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In the final article, Gula and Lovric from Canada report on the development and stress testing of a set of three rubrics for teachers and curriculum designers interested in determining the quality of numeracy tasks for use in instruction: Two rubrics to evaluate the quality of numeracy tasks for their usefulness in transference from concrete to abstract thinking spaces and from abstract thinking back to well-defined thinking actions, and a third rubric help teachers decide whether to use a particular numeracy task in their own classroom setting.
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An opportunity to extend and enhance your academic career
The editorial team for the Adult Learning Mathematics International Journal will be looking for one or two new editors from March 2025. The role of each editor is to manage the process of review for articles assigned to them.
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More information will be added to the ALM website soon, including details of the application process. A letter of application will be required which demonstrates the involvement of the applicant in the adult learning/mathematics education research community, their experience in the processes of publication, and a commitment to attending Committee Meetings. A short Curriculum Vitae will also be required.
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In addition, the editors will be requesting expressions of interest to be a reviewer for ALMIJ. Further details will posted on the website.
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Becoming a trustee
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ALM trustees take responsibility for various aspects of the work of ALM on a voluntary basis. Our current trustees each undertake specific roles but support each other and work together as a team. In July at our AGM there will be the opportunity to elect new trustees, and we would like to hear from anyone who might be interested in becoming a trustee. If you would like to know more about what this might involve then please email Diane Dalby chair@alm-online.net for an informal chat.
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ALM Membership
Membership fees are due in January each year (unless you only joined in December of the previous year) so please could all members remember to adjust their payments accordingly. We would be very grateful if all fees this year could be paid by the end of January. The current standard membership subscription is £25. For student and institutional membership rates please see the website.
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If any members have difficulty making this adjustment or have any other queries, they are very welcome to contact the Membership Secretary at membership@alm-online.net.
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If you are not yet a member, please do consider supporting the work of ALM in this way. By becoming a member, you demonstrate a commitment to the aims of ALM and contribute to essential maintenance costs by paying a small membership fee. You can find more information about how to do this at https://alm-online.net/become-a-member/.
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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 that may be of interest to our international community, then please do get in touch with Linda Jarlskog at linda.jarlskog@lund.se or Lena Lindeskov at lenali@edu.au.dk or send a short draft item for the next bulletin by March 1st 2025.
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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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By subscribing to the ALM-bulletin or by joining ALM, you agree to our Privacy Policy
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