Exploring teachers’ numeracy pedagogies and subsequent student learning across five dimensions of numeracy

This paper reports the case of two teachers with respect to the positioning of numeracy in a reform curriculum and subsequent student learning across five dimensions of numeracy. By analysing the conversations of these two teachers, their underlying beliefs about numeracy and its value and role in the curriculum were able to be explored. These beliefs were further reflected in the learning outcomes of the six students in this study. The paper describes examples of how the five dimensions of numeracy were evident in the thinking and practice of both the teachers and their students. Recent curriculum reform in Tasmania has been guided by a consideration of the knowledge, skills, and attributes required of students living in the twenty-first century. Tasmania’s Essential Learnings Framework (Department of Education, Tasmania [DoET], 2002) places thinking skills and strategies at the core of the curriculum and encourages the connection of knowledge and concepts across the curriculum. It emphasises the importance of being numerate rather than purely of knowing and doing mathematics. An ability to understand and apply mathematical concepts is valued alongside the development of students ’ abilities to problem solve, reason, communicate, and reflect upon their learning