[NLA] A Call for Help!

[Terry Maguire]

Subject: Significant Initiatives In Adult Numeracy.?

 Help! 

Are you involved in adult numeracy in your country. as a teacher, manager, researcher or policy maker? Could you help us identify interesting things that are happening in the field? 

We -Terry Maguire from Ireland, and Keiko Yasukawa and Betty Johnston from Australia - are working on a joint research project (*see overview below) to put together the beginnings of an international picture of what is happening in the adult numeracy field worldwide. We would very much welcome and value your help. 

 One section of the research (the second strand*see overview of project below) requires us to 

identify any particularly interesting or significant initiatives relating to adult numeracy in a variety of countries

 These might be to do with
-       provision and policy for indigenous groups
-       numeracy and other social justice issues
-       explicitly integrated literacy and numeracy initiatives
-       initiatives involving second-language and numeracy learning
-       cross-cultural issues
-       numeracy and community development or capacity-building in urban, or rural, or isolated areas e.g. in the environmental or women's movements
-       family, community, school partnerships
-       etc etc
 
We would be very grateful if you could briefly describe the initiative, indicating why you think it is interesting or significant and giving us some way of contacting those involved (email would be best, if possible). If you could also add any references of related published material that would be very helpful.
 
 We would welcome also more general references that would give us useful data about adult numeracy and its development in your country.
 
 Please send responses by email to Terry Maguire <terrymag at iol.ie> by 14th February 2002 if possible
 Thanks for your time!

Terry, Keiko & Betty

*More about the project

 Project Information Sheet
 
What is the project?
 
Polices and Pedagogies for Lifelong Numeracy (PPLN): an international snapshot of adult numeracy (including adults learning maths)
 
What is its purpose?
 
The overall purpose of this international collaborative research is to provide a brief account of international adult numeracy policy, pedagogy and provision over the last 20 years and case studies of initiatives in a number of countries.   
 
Who is Funding the Project?
 
The Australian team is funded through the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (NSW).  The Irish team is supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
 
What is the methodology?
 
The research has three identifiable strands.
-         The first strand of the research will be a detailed comparative investigation of adult numeracy - pedagogy, practice, policy etc - in at least two countries, including Australia and Ireland, and covering the last ten to twenty years.
-         The second strand of the research will involve brief accounts of adult numeracy in a number of other countries, from the perspective of several of those involved in adult numeracy in each of those countries. These accounts are designed to generate general information about policy, funding, provision, and research in adult numeracy, and to identify any interesting or significant initiatives.
-         The third strand of the research will involve more detailed case-studies of interesting or significant initiatives that have emerged from the second strand or from the concurrent literature review, in an attempt to identify factors that might inform future directions for adult numeracy in Ireland and Australia.
 
Who are we?
 
Dr Betty Johnston (Director, Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium, NSW, Sydney)  E-mail: betty.johnston at uts.edu.au
 
Terry Maguire MSc (Centre for Advancement of Mathematics Education in Technology CAMET Ireland, University of Limerick, Ireland) E-mail: terrymag at iol.ie
 
Dr Keiko Yasukawa (Lecturer in Adult Education, University of Technology, Sydney)
E-mail: keiko.yasukawa at uts.edu.au
The timeline
 
We plan to have a draft report of the project completed by June 2002. An executive summary of the research report produced will be made, through this site once available
 
Note to participants:
 
Your involvement in this project is voluntary; your reply to this request for information signifies your consent to participate. You may withdraw your participation at any time before publication of the report. . There will be more than one respondent from each country wherever possible, and all respondents will have a chance to correct errors and give feedback on a draft of the report. The source of the information that is supplied will be acknowledged in the report.   
 
Many thanks for your time and thought.
 
 
Betty, Keiko and Terry

 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/nla-nifl-archive/attachments/20020206/4c4d3ee7/attachment.htm