What does a teacher in adult mathematics education need to know

1
What does a teacher in adult mathematics
education need to know?

• Lars Gustafsson
• National Centre for Mathematics Education,
  Sweden,
• Tine Wedege
• Malmö University, Sweden,
• Norwegian Center for Mathematics Education,
  Norway

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What does a teacher in adult mathematics
education need to know?

• Why this question?
• Why a book about adults and mathematics?
• What are the key issues?
• Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
  education
• Questions for discussion

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1. Why this question?
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1. Why this question?

• Adult education has a high political priority in
  the Nordic countries.
• Lifelong learning is the mantra.
• Reading, writing and doing mathematics are key
  skills.
• Teacher education is needed.

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1. Why this question?

• The main focus in mathematics education research
  is primary and secondary school.
• However, adult mathematics education is a growing
  research field(Adults Learning Mathematics, an
  international research forum, www.alm-online.org
  )
• But, normally, the teachers do not know much
  about this research.

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1. Why this question?
ALM is situated in the borderland between
mathematics education and adult education
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1. Why this question?

• Linguistic Anthropological
• Socio-linguistic
  Ethnomathematical
• Semiotic
• Adults and Mathematics
• Psychological Sociological
• Socio-psychological
  Sociomathematical
• Language-psychological
  Socio-political
• Four main perspectives on the problem area within
  mathematics education research

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2. Why a book about adults and mathematics?

• The purpose of a research based introduction in
  Danish/Norwegian and Swedish
• to present the complexity of adults knowing and
  learning mathematics
• to boost the professional teacher identity in
  adult mathematics education
• to make visible and to legitimize the role and
  significance of adult mathematics education.

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2. Why a book about adults and mathematics?

• Working title
• Adults and Mathematics introduction to a
  problem field
• Swe Vuxna och matematik introduktion till ett
  problemfält
• Da Voksne og matematik introduktion til et
  problemfelt.  

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2. Why a book about adults and mathematics?

• Potential authors
• Diana Coben, Jeff Evans, Gail FitzSimons, Lars
  Gustafsson, Torkel Haugan Hansen, Lene Østergaard
  Johansen, Inge Henningsen, Lena Lindenskov, Tine
  Wedege,

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3. What are the key issues?

• Who?
• Why? traditonal
• What? educational
• How? problems
• Where?

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3. What are the key issues?

• Who is the adult learner?
• What is her/his relationship with mathematics
  (cognitive, affective, social)
• One thing that people have in common is that
  they are all different. (Marton (1997) Learning
  and Awarenes)

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3. What are the key issues?

• Why teach mathematics to adults?
• versus
• Why does the adult (not) study mathematics?
• The relevance paradox, is formed by the
  coexistence of the objective social significance
  of mathematics with the invisibility and
  irrelevance subjectively felt by many individuals
  within and outside of the educational system.
  (M. Niss, 1994)

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3. What are the key issues?

• What is mathematics in the context of adult
  education?
• school mathematics, everyday mathematics,
  numeracy, workplace mathematics, functional
  mathematics, ethnomathematics,
• Mathematical knowledge is said to be empowering,
  but questions arise, such as What mathematics?
  How much mathematics? For whom? Who decides? Who
  should decide? (FitzSimons, 2002)

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3. What are the key issues?

• How to teach mathematics to adults?
• How do adults learn mathematics?
• - what is specific?
• Two principles
• Make visible the mathematics in the adults
  everyday competences
• Elucidate the relevance of mathematics in
  vocational education. (Lindenskov Wedege,
  1998).

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3. What are the key issues?

• Where do the adults learn mathematics?
• school, everyday life, workplace,
• Informal education means the lifelong process
  whereby adults learning e.g. mathematics in
  everyday life.
• Formal education refers to the adult educational
  system from adult basic education and vocational
  training through further and higher education.
• Non-formal education is defined as any
  educational activity organized outside the
  established formal system. (UNESCO, 2000)

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Training vs Bildung
• School mathematics vs Everyday mathematics
• Joy vs Anxiety
• Motivation vs Resistance
• Tacit knowledge vs Explicit knowledge
• Individual vs Society
• Test performance vs Local competence

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Training vs Bildning
• Democracy and economy
• Critical/active citizenship
• Empowerment
• Personal fulfilment
• Competence and performance
• Mathematical literacy, numeracy, mathemacy
• Pragmatism/utilitarianism vs humanism
• Ref Coben, FitzSimons, Gustafsson, Rubenson,
  Wedege, ALM-11,

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• School mathematics vs Everyday mathematics
• Doing mathematics and shopping
• Mathematics in and for the workplace
• Mathematics and numeracy
• Mathematics as subject matter and as human
  activity
• Objective/subjective perspective
• Ref FitzSimons, Wedege, Nunes et al, Hoyles et
  al, Bishop,

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Joy
• Meaningful learning understandable and relevant
• Historical, cultural perspectives (Bishop,
  Harris, Gerdes)
• Ethnomathematics (DAmbrosio)
• Playing (games)
• Aesthetical aspects (mathematics, art, handcraft)
• A humanistic view on mathematics
• Mathematics thats what I cannot do.
  (RPL/Validation)
• Motivation

• Anxiety
• Affective aspects fear, anxiety, attitudes,
  beliefs
• Math avoidance, resistance

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Motivation vs Resistance
• Why do people learn or not learn mathematics?
• Motivation and resistance are two sides of the
  same coin.
• Adults goals and needs to learn mathematics.
• Motivation as a contested concept (Ahl, 2006).
• References Evans, Wedege, Ahl (2004, 2006).

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Tacit knowledge vs Explicit knowledge
• Everyday competence and school competence
• Embodied knowledge
• Visible and unvisible mathematics
• Implicit and explit mathematics
• References Hansen, Wedege, Nonaka Takeuchi
  (1998)

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Individual vs Society
• Continuing education is experienced by adults as
  a field of tension between needs and constraints.
  
• Individual needs/qualifications and demands from
  society
• Employability - democracy/citizenship - bildning
• Ref Coben, Evans, FitzSimons, Wedege

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4. Seven fields of tension in adult mathematics
education

• Test performance vs local competence
• Mathematical performance versus mathematic
  containing everyday competence.
• International surveys what do they mesure, and
  what can be learned from them?
• Ref Henningsen, Johansen, Lindenskov

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5. Questions for discussion

• The answer to the question What does a teacher
  in adult education need to know is reduced into
  headings in an introductory book.
• What do we miss in doing that?
• What kind of perspectives and problems do you
  find important for the teacher to know about?

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A few references

• Coben, D. (2003). Adult Numeracy Review of
  research and related literature. London National
  Research and Development Centre for Adult
  Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC).
• Evans, J. (2000). Adults Mathematical Thinking
  and Emotions A Study of Numerate Practices.
  London RoutledgeFalmer.
• FitzSimons, Gail E. (2002). What Counts as
  Mathematics? Technologies of Power in Adult and
  Vocational Education. Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
  Publishers.
• FitzSimons, Gail E. Wedege, Tine (2007).
  Developing numeracy in the Workplace. Nordic
  Studies in Mathematics Education, 12(1), 49-66.
• Gustafsson, L. Mouwitz, L. (2002). Vuxna och
  matematik ett livsviktigt ämne. Göteborg
  NCM-rapport 20023, Göteborgs universitet.
• Johansen, L. Ø. (2006). Hvorfor skal voksne
  tilbydes undervisning i matematik? (Doctoral
  dissertation). Aalborg Aalborg University.
• Lindenskov, L. Wedege, T. (2001). Numeracy as
  an Analytical Tool in Adult Education and
  Research. Centre for Research in Learning
  Mathematics, Publication no.31, Roskilde
  University.
• Rubenson, K. (2001). Lifelong Learning for All
  Challenges and Limitations of Public Policy. The
  Swedish Ministry of Education and Science
  European Conference Adult Lifelong Learning in a
  Europe of Knowledge. Eskildstuna March 23-25.
  2001.
• Wedege, T. (2000). Matematikviden og teknologiske
  kompetencer hos kortuddannede voksne. (Doctoral
  dissertation). Roskilde University, IMFUFA. (Text
  no. 381)
• Wedege, T. Evans, J. (2006). Adults resistance
  to learn in school versus adults competences in
  work the case of mathematics. Adults Learning
  Mathematics an International Journal 1(2),
  28-43.