Teaching Numeracy to Adults

Leaders: Javier Diez-Palomar and Anita Alexander

The question of how to teach numeracy to adults is an international concern, especially when the results from surveys such as PIAAC indicate little improvement in general levels of competency. In this topic group we aim to explore the needs of adult learners and consider existing evidence of effective teaching approaches by sharing experiences and knowledge of relevant research in different adult learning contexts.

Update from Teaching Numeracy to Adults (July 2026)

The Topic Group (TG) “Teaching Numeracy to Adults” met several times during the ALM Conference in Oslo. During these meetings, participants reached several agreements on how to organise the group’s work over the coming year. First, members reaffirmed the TG’s twofold purpose: (a) to provide academic resources on the teaching of adult numeracy, and (b) to develop practical resources for practitioners in adult education. These two objectives emerged as the group’s shared priorities.

A major area of discussion concerned the development of a shared repository of resources for adult numeracy educators. Participants proposed creating a resource bank that brings together open-access materials, research project outputs, and teaching resources relevant to adult numeracy.

A further proposal was to develop structured lesson sequences, consisting of three to five connected lessons that could be adapted to different educational contexts, rather than providing isolated classroom activities. Participants also discussed opportunities to support the professional learning of adult numeracy teachers. In particular, the possibility of organising a series of webinars on adult numeracy instruction was raised. In addition, members expressed interest in strengthening international networking to develop collaborative projects and apply for international research and education grants.

The group proposes to meet online several times during the academic year 2026/27. For further details please email the topic group leaders using the email address below.