Paper on Empowering Numeracy: Navigating Challenges and Implementing Interventions in Education

Numeracy involves the understanding and recognition of the role of mathematics in many contexts. Nowadays, most companies rely on big data for decision-making purposes. For this reason, employees with strong numeracy skills have an advantage in the current job market (Durrani& Tariq, 2012). Numeracy skills refer to using, communicating, and interpreting mathematical information to solve real-world problems. These skills include a better understanding of basic math: multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division. Advanced numeracy skills involve the use of visual, statistical, algebraic, and spatial concepts. It also incorporates the ability to interpret data and apply it in solving real-world problems. Some of the numeracy skills regularly used in the working environment include; budgeting, measurement and data analysis, calculation skills, basic knowledge of numbers, trend analysis, and understanding the relationships between numbers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In the learning continuum, critical ideas for numeracy are organized into several interrelated elements. These are; interpreting statistical information, estimation, and calculations involving whole numbers, using and recognizing patterns and their relationships and using fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and rates, spatial reasoning, and finally, using measurement. When teachers identify numeracy demands across the curriculum, students are availed the opportunity to use their knowledge and skills in mathematics to contexts outside the mathematics classroom. Such options enable students to recognize the interconnection between mathematics knowledge and other learning areas. It also encourages the broad use of their mathematical skills.

Throughout the Australian curriculum, opportunities exist for teachers to teach numeracy in their subject areas explicitly. These include: numeracy within English, Geography, History, Science, Creative Arts, and Mathematics. This paper explores the necessity and complexity of becoming numerate in this social milieu, the difficulties associated with achieving this goal, and its impact on teachers and how they plan and teach for student learning. It focuses on numeracy within mathematics.

Numeracy within Mathematics and its Relevance

The field of mathematics contributes positively to numeracy development in a way that is explicit and foregrounded compared to other learning areas. The mathematics curriculum avails pupils and students with the opportunity to use numerical, spatial, statistical, graphical, and algebra concepts and skills in several contexts (Brady, 2017). It enables the students to critically evaluate, interpret, and communicate mathematical information essential in practical situations, hence critical in today's world.

It is the role of mathematics teachers to equip both students and pupils with the required numeracy skills. To successfully achieve this, teachers teach students specific skills and allow them to select, use, evaluate, and communicate mathematical ideas in a range of situations. For a proper mathematical understanding, there is a need for engaging students in solving real problems that need mathematical application.

The importance of being Numerate

People use mathematics in every aspect of their lives at work and practically every day. The confidence and ability of a person with numbers have a financial, social, and professional impact. It further affects the mental health and well-being of an individual. Some of the ways in which mathematics is used in everyday activities include:

• Diet and nutrition management
• Helping children with their holiday assignments
• Analysis of statistics and graphs displayed in the news
• Confirming that the amount of money received as change is right
• Setting up a budget and keeping to it.
• Calculating the remaining minutes until your train arrives.

The need for good numeracy increases with age. When an individual starts thinking of mortgages, implications of borrowing money, pensions, and interest rates, such a person must be numerate enough to make informed decisions. Individuals with low capability and confidence in numbers are estimated to be worse off than those with strong numeracy skills. A report by Pro Bono Economics found out that the average cost to people with low numeracy is 460 euros per year.

Low numeracy is associated with poor outcomes in several circumstances. First, in the employment sector, individuals without proper mathematical knowledge are more likely to face unemployment than those with good numeracy skills. Most decisions made by several companies are based on numbers, and no such company is ready to employ a person who is not good with numbers. Further, wage distribution is highly affected by a person's numeracy skill. People good at mathematics are paid well as opposed to those who are not perfect in the field. Finally, there is a link between money and numeracy. Positive financial behaviors such as the right saving frequency and proper paying of bills are linked to good numeracy. It is rare to find an illiterate person keeping up with bills or even making savings.

Numeracy Learning Difficulties

Difficulties in numeracy were in the past associated with cognitive problems such as low IQ. However, recent studies pinpoint several factors that may cause a student to experience difficulty in mathematics. These factors are divided into two; student-related and social and environment-related factors (Jimenez& Kemmery, 2013).

Student-related factors: This category involves many factors ranging from sensory impairments, chronic absenteeism, a delay in acquiring language, socio-emotional related difficulties, specific cognitive problems such as issues with working memory, and overlap with a literacy learning difficulty. Chronic absenteeism can be due to a student being suspended or in circumstances where the student misses some classes because of changing schools. It can also be as a result of deliberate absences from school.

Social and environmental factors: These factors are contributed by the quality, type, and stability of the social and ecological setup. According to this category, numeracy can be a difficult topic for a student due to a previous family history of learning disabilities. The low socio-economic status of the family also contributes highly to the experienced difficulties. Further, if the language used in teaching is not a student's first language, it is prone to experience initial problems. Finally, limited early literacy and language exposure also affect a child's ability to grasp mathematical concepts quickly.

A condition known as dyscalculia is one specific example of a learning disability that can make a student experience challenges in developing numeracy skills. The definition of dyscalculia, according to the American Psychiatric Association, is a learning deficit associated with difficulties processing numerical information, learning arithmetic facts, and performing calculations. It is not easy to identify students with the stated disability, and at the same time, there is no approach to help those with the disability.

Impact of Numeracy Learning Difficulties on Teachers

The classroom teacher has to equip students with good numerical skills. In most cases, inferior teaching methods result in a poor understanding of the concept. In the process of tackling mathematical ideas, teachers face several difficulties. These difficulties impact them in different ways. To begin with, it is the work of the classroom teacher to understand why a particular student is experiencing challenges in mathematics before coming up with an intervention. Every factor that leads to difficulties has its way of intervention. For instance, effective teacher interventions for students with delayed acquisition are different for those suffering from dyscalculia.

As previously stated, there are many reasons that can make a student struggle with mathematics. However, several assessments conducted only pointed out students with low achievement but did not help teachers comprehend the nature of the difficulty itself. Teachers are, therefore, faced with the task of identifying numeracy learning difficulties and dyscalculia.

Teachers have opted for two critical markers to identify students' core number ability. These markers can be identified early in life and are vital indicators of a person's capability in mathematics. They include a student's ability to enumerate fast and precisely and the efficiency in comparing magnitudes of quantities by identifying the set of squares with more squares. The two indicators are referred to as subitizing and comparing approximate magnitudes.

Numeracy Intervention

There is no appropriate approach to helping students with difficulties in learning numeracy. It is critical to understand every student's learning needs to obtain a better intervention. Currently, teachers employ the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework in combating numeracy-related challenges. RTI framework is helpful as it provides teachers with ways of implementing approaches to assist students with learning difficulties.

RTI is embedded within the Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) and School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) (Bryant et al., 2011). The framework provides three tiers of support organized according to need.

Tier 3: It is often known as the individualized tier. Under this, students who need additional support are provided with intensive and individualized instructions to fully engage them with the curriculum (Browder et al., 2012). This can be done by the teacher in charge or a collaborative learning team tasked with supporting the student. The team can decide to include student support services.

Tier 2: Also known as the targeted tier. For this, targeted intervention for the chosen group of students is delivered. It can be done at a classroom level or in small groups. Support is provided to the students to ensure their success in a general education classroom.

Tier 1: Referred to as the whole-school tier. In this category, teachers design whole-class instruction that focuses on the needs of many students. Each student receives instructions that are of high quality and are differentiated.

Ethical, Pedagogical, and Practical Impact of Response-to-Intervention

RTI, as stated above, operates in three tiers. At times, the three levels of interventions require the teacher to conduct screening for the student to determine the appropriate strategies for curriculum implementation. Such evaluation does not require the consent of the parent. However, ethically teachers should communicate to parents if such involvement of their children is anticipated. Moreover, a potential threat to the validity of RTI is the treatment fidelity. Teachers have to be trained to use the RTI model, and they must be taught how to carry out precise interventions and track resulting changes in student performance. This may need documentation on treatment fidelity. Practically, tension will arise due to teacher concerns of inappropriate use of the school administration's documented fidelity data.

Implementation of the RTI model has a pedagogical impact. Teachers familiarize themselves with RTI initiatives and gain practical knowledge of various ways of administering assessment (Falligant& Pence, 2017). They also learn how to diagnose, design, and apply instructional interventions. These contribute significantly to their professional development and further enhance the likelihood of teacher expertise, quality reading instruction, and student achievement.