Kus Numeracy

Numeracy
Miranda Kus
Brock University

Abstract

This essay describes the development of the word numeracy as it evolved from its initial
use in 1959 to its current meaning today. Initially appearing in a British report to address
mathematics education of teenage boys and girls, it was first used in relation to the word
literate and defined as the ability with or knowledge of numbers. By the mid-1960s, the
meaning shifted from computation of numbers to the ability to interpret data and make
sense of the world through business, science, and technology. In the 1970s, numeracy was
seen as a skill that was essential in life and by the turn of the twenty-first century, numeracy
came to include the ability to reason. Numeracy was no longer seen simply in the area of
mathematics but continued to permeate through all areas of study and furthermore, into
daily life.

Keywords: mathematics, numeracy, education

Miranda Kus is a second year Masters of Education student studying part time at Brock
University in the social and cultural contexts stream. Her interests are in the area of
numeracy as she currently works at the Toronto Catholic District School Board as a
Mathematics resource teacher.

Email: mk01an@[Link]

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Because the ability to function in a technology-driven world is now a basic requirement,

numeracy is as essential as literacy for high school graduates. But numeracy is not simply
the ability to do calculations. It is about the interpretation of those calculations, the
understanding of the relationship between numbers and manipulation of material
components of the world. The difference between calculation and numeracy is made
manifest in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, about Katherine Johnson, a brilliant woman -
-otherwise known as the “computer” in a pre-computer filled era--working for NASA in
the 1960s. She was one of the unacknowledged brains behind one of the greatest
technological achievements in history, space flight. Fifty years after the events of the
movie, machines now process data more quickly than any human, but it is the analysis of
that data that distinguishes mathematical computation from numeracy. People, not
computers, have to figure out the meaning and purpose of the numbers.
The word "numeracy"—which only came into use around the time of the mid-twentieth-
century events of Hidden Figures—is awkwardly defined. The Oxford English Dictionary
(OED, 2011) defines numeracy as “the quality or state of being numerate; ability with or
knowledge of numbers.” Although numeracy is a term used in many English-speaking
countries, such as South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, it is more common to speak
of quantitative literacy or mathematical literacy (Goos, Dole, & Geiger, 2012).
According to the OED, the word numeracy first appeared in the Crowther Report,
written to address the mathematics education of British boys and girls between the ages of
15 to 18 (Crowther, 1959). It was in the Crowther Report that the word numeracy was used
to mirror the word literacy in educational discourse:
When we say that a scientist is "illiterate," we mean that he is not well enough read
to be able to communicate effectively with those who have had a literary education.
When we say that a historian or a linguist is "innumerate" we mean that he cannot
even begin to understand what scientists and mathematicians are talking about. The
aim of a good Sixth Form should be to send out into the world men and women
who are both literate and numerate. (Crowther, 1959, p. 270)
By the mid-1960s, numeracy began to shift from the simple computation of numbers and
their function in other areas of life to the interpretation of data and the connections that
allow us to understand the worlds of business, science and technology. One of the early
uses for “numeracy” is from an article in a 1966 issue of the Economist, stating that: “The
need for numeracy today is enormous. Business requires people who have grasped the
principles of reducing chaos of information to some kind of order” (OED). A 1972 use in
the Daily Telegraph states that “the plan must be welcomed for introducing pre-school
children to reading, writing and numeracy” (OED). The use of the word numeracy needed
to change from reactive with adults in the business sector to proactive in the education
sector.
The 1970s saw increasing public attention to the centrality of numeracy as an
essential life skill. In 1978, Sir Wilfred Cockcroft, a mathematics educator from the
University of Hull, was commissioned by the British government to lead an inquiry about
the teaching of mathematics in schools in England and Wales (Cockcroft, 1982).
Mathematics Counts, more commonly known as the Cockcroft Report (1982), described
being numerate as “possessing an at-homeness with numbers and an ability to use
mathematical skills to cope confidently with the practical demands of everyday life” (p.
11). His report pointed to the fact that many adults in Britain had great difficulty with

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everyday situations involving mathematics such as making change at the store or

determining the cost of gas for their car (Cockcroft, 1982). His argument for the urgent
need to improve the teaching of numeracy skills was supported by a Yorkshire Television
series, Make it Count (1978), which revealed that ‘functional innumeracy’ was far more
prevalent than society cared to believe. The numeracy movement continued to gain strength
with the 1989 publication of Everybody Counts as it provided a revitalization effort based
on the recommendation of seventy leading Americans in the fields of education,
mathematics, sciences and government (National Research Council). The report not only
outlined the problem in mathematics education but it also provided a national strategy to
improve curricula, teaching, and assessment. At this point, the focus was simply on creating
graduates with ‘sufficient mathematical literacy.’
As the turn of the twenty-first century approached, and as computers, calculators
and, eventually mobile phones increasingly took over computational skills, the focus of
numeracy education shifted. There was something of a crisis of definition. The National
Council on Education and the Disciplines in the United States, for instance, refer to
numeracy as “quantitative literacy” and questions that “although almost everyone believes
quantitative literacy to be important, there is little agreement on just what it is” (Nygaard
& Hughes-Hallett, 2001, p. 4). They seek to clarify by concluding, “quantitatively literate
citizens need to know more than formulas and equations. They need a predisposition to
look at the world through mathematical eyes . . . and to approach complex problems with
confidence in the value of careful reasoning” (Nygaard & Hughes-Hallett, 2001, p. 2).
Steen (2001) defines quantitative literacy as the capacity to:
Deal with quantitative aspects of life, and proposed that its elements included:
confidence with mathematics; appreciation of the nature and history of mathematics
and its significance for understanding issues in the public realm; logical thinking
and decision-making; use of mathematics to solve practical everyday problems in
different contexts; number sense and symbol sense; reasoning with data; and the
ability to draw on a range of pre requisite mathematical knowledge and tools. (as
cited in Goos et al., 2012, p. 3)
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Victoria,
Australia (2009) interprets numeracy in practice as the teaching, learning and using of
mathematics:
Numeracy is not the same as mathematics, nor is it an alternative to mathematics.
Rather, it is an equal and supporting partner in helping students learn to cope with
the quantitative demands of modern society. Whereas mathematics is a well-
established discipline, numeracy is necessarily interdisciplinary. Like writing,
numeracy must permeate the curriculum. When it does, also like writing, it will
enhance students’ understanding of all subjects and their capacity to lead informed
lives. (p. 8)
The definition of being numerate was shifting and was no longer believed to be the
“extension of mathematics into other subjects” but rather the “key to understanding our
data-drenched society” (Nygaard & Hughes-Hallett, 2001, p. 2). Students were encouraged
to learn mathematics within the context of practical application; they were better able build
on the interconnectedness of the different types of knowledge they encounter in their daily
lives.

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Educators attempting to fulfil their mandate to teach mathematics are currently

being faced with their inability to teach it in a way that makes interdisciplinary connections
— they are omitting the real-world elements that would yield the desired result of being
numerate. For example, the Ontario mathematics curriculum documents specify the
teaching in elementary schools of five strands of study ranging from Number Sense and
Numeration to Patterning and Algebra all described in isolation, all reported on separately
on report cards, then equally assessed on standardized tests ordered by the province. As a
result, students are unable to readily make connections with real-world knowledge because
the mandated curriculum only produces data, not potential for growth or interpretation.
In Ontario, as elsewhere in North America, news reports on a crisis in mathematics
education continue to appear in the headlines. Part of the problem is that the state-mandated
objectives still flounder in soggy, essentially meaningless prose. The Ontario Ministry of
Education (2013) documents, for example, declare that “numeracy is about doing the math
– about recognizing and using mathematics – in a variety of contexts that range from the
everyday to the unusual; it’s about being able to use mathematics as a tool to explore
problems and situations.” This is exactly the kind of empty mandate that leaves educators
trying to figure out what is meant when we say that students lack numeracy skills. At this
stage, sixty years after the word numeracy came into use as a economic/educational term,
perhaps the problem of effective implementation lies in its many competing definitions:
the range of meanings destabilizing the object of inquiry. Mathematicians, after all, do not
do numeracy.

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References

Capacity Building Series (2012). Supporting Numeracy. Retrieved from:

[Link]
[Link]
Cockcroft, W. (1982). Mathematics counts. London: HMSO.
Crowther Report. (1959). Education in England: The History of Our Schools. Retrieved
from: [Link]
[Link]
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2009). Numeracy in
practice: Teaching, learning and using mathematics. Department of Education and
Early Childhood Development.
Goos, M., Dole, S., & Geiger, V. (2012). Numeracy across the curriculum. Amt,
68(2004), 3–8.
Numeracy. (2011). In Oxford English dictionary (3rd ed.). Retrieved from
[Link]
Nygaard, P. H. & Hughes-Hallett, D. (2001). Mathematics and Democracy and
Achieving Numeracy: The Challenge of Implementation. School Science and
Mathematics. [Link]
The Ministry of Education (2005). The Ontario Curriculum, Grade 1-8: Mathematics.
Retrieved from: [Link]

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