Numeracy Across the Curriculum: Recognising and Responding to the Demands and Numeracy Opportunities Inherent in Secondary Teaching

Abstract

The 1998 Report of the National Standards and Guidelines for Initial Teacher Education Project, Preparing a Profession (Australian Council of Deans of Education, 1998), illustrates the emphasis being placed in Australia on the development of numeracy skills amongst not only primary but also secondary school pupils. This report demands that graduates of all initial teacher training courses should not only be numerate themselves, but should also understand the contribution of numeracy to education and daily life, and be able to identify and respond to pupils’ numeracy learning needs. This report and its implementation in the state of Victoria through the Guidelines for the Evaluation of Teacher Education Courses (Standards Council of the Teaching Profession, 1998), led to the introduction in 1999 of a compulsory unit Numeracy Across the Curriculum for all Deakin University students in the final year of their secondary teacher training course. This paper discusses the nature of the current emphasis on numeracy. It also describes the rationale, development and delivery of the first year of the Numeracy Across the Curriculum unit, provides a brief evaluation from the perspective of staff and students, and discusses what impact such teacher education programs might have on secondary schools’ approaches to numeracy.