12. NUMERACY

 Numeracy and Education

    Numeracy is the ability to understand and work with numbers. Most people might automatically think of math when they hear the word numeracy, but this subject is also important in many other parts of education. A study by The Sydney Morning Herald  shows that almost 1 in 10 Australian trainee teachers fail to meet literacy and numeracy standards that they need in order to graduate.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/one-in-10-trainee-teachers-fails-required-literacy-and-numeracy-tests-20200925-p55zaj.html

On the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students, or LANTITE, 84% of students meet standards for both subjects on their first time taking the test. However, 11% only meet one of the standards and 5% meet neither. Because of this, many reports are recommending that the students take the test before beginning their degree, instead of keeping it as a requirement to graduate.

This is a great example of how numeracy affects the education world and our future educators. By using most of their years in school to prepare for the LANTITE, many students fail to truly learn and understand the importance of numeracy in a teaching job and also waste time and money by then not being able to graduate. By taking the test at the beginning of their schooling, it would allow professors to focus on teaching instead of focusing on preparing students for the test. This would in turn allow them to better equip future educators in numeracy by teaching them what they need to know, not just what the test requires.

Numeracy clearly plays a large role in education and future teachers, which leads one to believe that it will also play a large role in the future generations as well.