The implications for post-16 numeracy and maths of the Smith and Tomlinson reports, the 14-19 White Paper and the Skills White Paper: a policy discussion paper

During the last three years there have been four government-commissioned reports which directly impact on adult numeracy and maths within the Skills for Life sector. Maths4Life wants to be responsive to the current policy agenda, and to help inform the future. The aims of this document are to highlight the issues arising from the four documents, and to outline the project's response to them. The document seeks to encourage debate, and to alert the Skills for Life sector to issues which will undoubtedly impact on theory and practice in the near future. The likely impact of each document is assessed separately, as well as all four documents together. The following list summarises the central issues affecting adult numeracy and maths arising from the four reports: these four policy documents serve to set the agenda in numeracy and mathematics education; they all reiterate the central importance of numeracy and mathematics; they all stress 'functional mathematics' - though not yet defined, it seems that functional maths may become identified with lower-status pathways - this is in part because the government's rejection of the Tomlinson recommendations in full may reaffirm a vocational-academic divide; challenging targets for learners' participation and achievement suggest that the shortage of suitably qualified numeracy teachers is likely to become more acute; Smith, together with NRDC evidence, suggests that the most urgent need for continuing professional development (CPD) is on subject knowledge and subject-specific pedagogies; there is a key role for the newly established [National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics] NCETM to provide central and distributed infrastructures to support the entire mathematics sector; it is not clear from the reports what impact the emerging post-14 agenda will have on the Skills for Life sector, which includes adults of all ages. Policy makers and stakeholders need to work together to ensure that adult learners' needs are met within the new approaches.

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During the last three years there have been four government-commissioned reports which directly impact on adult numeracy and maths within the Skills for Life sector. Maths4Life wants to be responsive to the current policy agenda, and to help inform the future. The aims of this document are to highlight the issues arising from the four documents, and to outline the project's response to them. The document seeks to encourage debate, and to alert the Skills for Life sector to issues which will undoubtedly impact on theory and practice in the near future. The likely impact of each ...  [+] Show more