Challenges in embedding numeracy throughout the curriculum in three Queensland secondary schools

• Published in: Australian educational researcher 2015-11, Vol.42 (5), p.595-611
• Main Authors: Carter, Merilyn Gladys, Klenowski, Valentina, Chalmers, Christina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Standards; Achievement tests; Arithmetic; Australia; Case Studies; Competence; Core curriculum; Creative Thinking; Curriculum development; Curriculum implementation; Curriculum policy; Definitions; Dictionaries; Education; Educational Methods; Educational Policy and Politics; Educational Psychology; Educational Resources; Evaluative Thinking; Foreign Countries; Graduate studies; Holistic Approach; Integrated Curriculum; Interdisciplinary Approach; Intergroup Education; Learning; Literacy; Mathematics; Mathematics Curriculum; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics Skills; Mathematics Teachers; Mathematics teaching; National curriculum; Numeracy; Professional development; Remedial Mathematics; Secondary education; Secondary school curriculum; Secondary School Mathematics; Secondary School Teachers; Secondary schools; Social constructivism; Students; Teaching; Teaching and Teacher Education; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills
• ISSN: 0311-6999; 2210-5328
• DOI: 10.1007/s13384-015-0188-x

The Australian Curriculum identified seven General Capabilities, including numeracy, to be embedded in all learning areas. However, it has been left to individual schools to manage this. Whilst there is a growing body of literature about pedagogies that embed numeracy in various learning areas, there are few studies from the management perspective. A social constructivist perspective and a multiple case study approach were used to explore the actions of school managers and mathematics teachers in three Queensland secondary schools, in order to investigate how they meet the Australian Curriculum requirement to embed numeracy throughout the curriculum. The study found a lack of coordinated cross-curricular approaches to numeracy in any of the schools studied. It illustrates the difficulties that arise when teachers do not share the Australian Curriculum cross-curricular vision of numeracy. Schools and curriculum authorities have not acknowledged the challenges for teachers in implementing cross-curricular numeracy, which include: limited understanding of numeracy; a lack of commitment; and inadequate skills. Successful embedding of numeracy in all learning areas requires: the commitment and support of school leaders, a review of school curriculum documents and pedagogical practices, professional development of teachers, and adequate funding to support these activities. [Author abstract]