Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This project explores what makes numeracy further education in different geographical areas in England. Its specific aims are: to investigate ways in which teachers' knowledge of learners' numerate practices outside the classroom inform numeracy teaching inside the classroomto investigate learners' reasons and motivations for attending adult numeracy classesto explore and describe some of the ways in which learning numeracy transforms learners' identities within and outside the classroomto investigate what learners consider being a numerate adult means in today's societyto find out from learners how they use numeracy outside the classroomto describe and analyse how learners approach particular mathematical tasks/problems based in contexts outside the classroom. The project investigated four adult numeracy classes which were working between Entry Level 1 and Level 2. The dataset comprises the interviews carried out with students, with the addition of some notes from teacher-researchers and some extracts from student diaries. The two principal methods of data collection were semi-participant observation within the classroom and loosely structured interviews. The study explored a particular and limited cohort of adult learners: these were students who attended discrete numeracy classes on a voluntary basis, who worked with very good teachers and were generally very well motivated. As this is a relatively small scale, interpretative project the researchers are unable to claim that their findings are representative of a larger population. Nevertheless, they consider their findings have wider implications for the teaching and learning of adult numeracy. Project webpage

Purposive selection/case studies

Volunteer sample

Face-to-face interview

Observation

Diaries