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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 July 2025
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In the last two months we have experienced the excitement of coming together in person for our annual conference, and yet the sadness of losing a much valued and inspirational member of the ALM community, Kees Hoogland, who passed away in June this year.
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In this bulletin we share a link to a short presentation in remembrance of Kees, and some reflections on our recent conference, ALM 32, that I hope will inspire you to join us next year for ALM 33. I would like to express my personal thanks to all those who helped to make ALM 32 a success, especially the Programme Team and staff from the Observatory for Mathematical Education at the University of Nottingham who assisted in various ways. We enjoyed a fascinating set of presentations from delegates, and it was good to be together in person after our hybrid event last year. I am delighted that ALM 33 will take place in Oslo, Norway and hope to see many of you there.
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Finally, as we welcome new trustees for 2025/26 and say goodbye to others, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work done to support ALM by the trustees, which is carried out entirely on a voluntary basis. Those who are stepping down have made a huge contribution to the work of ALM over the last few years, for which I am very grateful.
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Diane Dalby
Chair of ALM trustees
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Reflections on ALM 32
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We were delighted to welcome participants from nine different countries to ALM 32, including some who travelled from places as far away as Canada, USA and Australia. Our thanks go to the wonderful team at the University of Nottingham and the ALM 32 Programme Team for the efficient organisation of the conference, and to all the presenters for their excellent contributions.
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Here are two short reflections from people who attended ALM 32 that we hope will give everyone a taste of the experience, which included some stimulating discussions around the theme of Learning from the past and building for the future: international views of adults learning mathematics.
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Anita Alexander (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, The Netherlands) writes:
“Led by the chair Diane Dalby, with the support of the trustees and members, the Adults Learning Mathematics (ALM) organization manages to be both a close-knit group and a welcoming and inclusive environment for critical discussion on how to better serve adult learners. The founder, Diana Coben is an inspiration; a sage whose curiosity and passion for numeracy education only increases over time. ALM 32, a three-day conference hosted by the University of Nottingham, included plenaries from various agencies, parallel sessions, and topic group discussions. Parallel sessions ranged from research on self-efficacy and assessment of adult learners, to identifying areas where more support is needed for interpreting rational numbers. The inclusive pedagogy session taught all of us something new; better ways to format presentation slides, how to help our learners focus, and how to cultivate an inclusive learning environment. My colleagues Rosa Alberto and Catherine Byrne joined me in presenting a workshop on building communities of practice with educators who work in the prison context, and we were able to connect with other researchers and practitioners doing similar work. This was my first experience of an ALM conference, and I am already looking forward to the next one. Thank you to the entire organization for continuing to inspire, and for providing such wonderful opportunities to collaborate on improving numeracy in adult and vocational education.”
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Ben Allen (Leicester College, UK) summarises his experience as follows:
“Attending for a day of ALM32 was my first taste of an ALM conference. I found it a real encouragement hearing the different ways that others have been striving to understand and support adults. Being in a fairly small team supporting adults at a large college, it is easy to feel forgotten, so it was motivating to be part of an international group looking at the universal similarities and challenges that adults face when learning maths. Discussing the same issues that we face, but expressed in different ways, has definitely inspired me to think how our team can meet the needs of our adults better.”
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We were treated to some informative and inspiring talks by our keynote speakers, and enjoyed a variety of delegate presentations and workshops, but also met in small topic groups. Diana Coben (Founding Chair of ALM and Emeritus Professor of Adult Numeracy, King’s College London, UK) addressed the question of 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? by leading us through a challenging review of what has been achieved and what remains to be done in this area. Andrew Noyes (Professor of Education, University of Nottingham) drew on his research about mathematics education and 14-19 learner participation, pathways and policy to speak about Mathematics pathways: stories, systems and strategies, explaining how current agendas are reshaping mathematical futures. Paul Milner (Programmes Director, National Numeracy, UK) gave an interesting presentation about the work of the National Numeracy organization in the UK, entitled National Numeracy – strategy, research and impact, and finally Jeremy Hodgen (Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham and University College London) discussed findings from systematic reviews of effective ways to teach mathematics in secondary education to think about Learning lessons from educational experiments: What might ‘work’ for adults learning mathematics?
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Annual General Meeting
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Our Annual General Meeting took place on July 11th 2025, during the ALM conference. Nine trustees were elected for the coming year, including two new members, Rosa Alberto (the Netherlands) and Niamh O’Meara (Ireland). You can find more about them here. ALM would like to express a special thanks to Lynda Ginsburg, David Kaye, Linda Jarlskog and Judy Larsen who stepped down as trustees at the AGM but have all made a very valuable contribution over the last few years. A full list of the current trustees can be found on the website here.
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Kees Hoogland
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We were very sad to hear about the passing away of Kees Hoogland in June, who had been a long-standing member of ALM and served as a trustee. Kees will be remembered for his infectious enthusiasm to improve adult numeracy learning and his inspirational research. During the ALM 32 conference we held a short time of remembrance for Kees, for which we were joined online by colleagues in Utrecht. You can find the slide presentation for this time of remembrance here.
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Conference proceedings
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We are pleased to announce that the conference proceedings from ALM 30 and ALM 31 can now 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 main editors: Trude Sundtjønn; Niamh O’Meara and Javier Diez-Palomar.
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Conferences in 2026 and 2027
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We are delighted to announce that ALM 33 will be held in Oslo, Norway in July 2026. The exact dates will be confirmed later.
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The next Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, CERME 15, will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia, 8-12 February 2027. Please follow the link to CERME conferences for more information.
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Are you interested in hosting a future ALM conference?
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The ALM trustees are keen to spread ALM conferences around the world and would welcome new partners for future conferences. If you might be interested in hosting 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 September 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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