Numeracy and employment
Samantha Parsons and John Bynner
Uses National Child Development Study (NCDS) data to examine the employment experiences of men and women assessed with poor numeracy compared with those with good numeracy…
Uses National Child Development Study (NCDS) data to examine the employment experiences of men and women assessed with poor numeracy compared with those with good numeracy skills at age 37. To uncover the extent of negative effects of having poor numeracy skills, the sample is restricted to those whose poor or good numeracy was accompanied by good literacy skills. As a further control, much of the analysis is also restricted to those who had left full‐time education at age 16. Maps the proportions in full‐time employment between ages 17 to 37 and demonstrates the very different labour market experiences of the two skills groups in the areas of occupation, training, promotion and income. Concludes that poor numeracy reduces employment opportunities and progress in jobs.
Lack of employment: the threat to numeracy
Samantha Parsons and JohnBynner
National Child Development Study (NCDS) data are used to examine the negative impact of time out of paid employment on numeracy, as measured by a maths test at 16 and a…
National Child Development Study (NCDS) data are used to examine the negative impact of time out of paid employment on numeracy, as measured by a maths test at 16 and a functional numeracy test at 37. Restricting the sample to respondents who left full‐time education at 16 and accounting for maths at 16, we found negative correlations between time out of paid employment and adult numeracy scores. Using the whole sample, adult numeracy scores were regressed on maths at 16, family background and adult experiences. The longer the absence from paid employment, the greater the negative impact on adult numeracy. The relationship was strongest for men with poor maths at 16. This suggested that a certain level of maths was needed before skills were retained and not weakened by absence from paid employment. Training offered some protection against skill loss, as did women’s more diverse roles at home and work.
Strengthening Literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood
Drawing from the inclusive pedagogical approach in action framework and Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory concepts of habitus, field and capital, this chapter positions…
Drawing from the inclusive pedagogical approach in action framework and Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory concepts of habitus, field and capital, this chapter positions literacy and numeracy learning as core components of further learning, and living successfully in the world. It addresses learner diversity in early childhood settings and recognises the uniqueness of every child within the context of a broad range of cultural knowledge. The chapter concludes with two sample lessons and reflective questions, which early childhood teachers can use as models to expand children’s literacy and numeracy concepts, enabling creative and critical interactions across a range of modes in the context of everyday life across families and cultures.
Examining the Literacy within Numeracy to Provide Access to the Curriculum for All
Being numerate involves the ability to use mathematical knowledge meaningfully across multiple contexts allowing us to order our day, optimise our health and well-being…
Being numerate involves the ability to use mathematical knowledge meaningfully across multiple contexts allowing us to order our day, optimise our health and well-being, and function in technology rich environments. Addressing numeracy from the early years of learning, and across all areas of the education curriculum, is key to lifelong learning and quality of life. Being numerate, however, is more than mathematical knowledge; the language that underpins it heavily impacts how we become numerate. This chapter examines numeracy, or mathematical literacy, investigating how literacy can include, and exclude, students from opportunities to learn at school and beyond. This chapter will also examine how numeracy can be used to provide access to educational curricula and personalised goals for students with diverse learning needs in ways that many have ignored.
A model of consumer financial numeracy
Bruce A. Huhmann and Shaun McQuitty
The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical explanation – financial numeracy – for consumer proficiency with financial services. With sufficient financial…
The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical explanation – financial numeracy – for consumer proficiency with financial services. With sufficient financial numeracy, consumers benefit fully from financial services and make competent choices in regard to financial management.
The article builds theory by combining consumer cognitive capacity and customer knowledge theories with findings from prior studies of consumer difficulties with financial services to introduce a comprehensive model of the antecedents and consequences of financial numeracy with testable propositions for many psychographic and cultural influences and moderators.
Financial numeracy demands that consumers possess sufficient financial information processing capacity and ability as well as sufficient prior knowledge of financial concepts. Although partly a function of individual cognitive ability, it can be enhanced through appropriate experience with financial instruments and familiarity through personal financial materials when consumers are motivated to process them. Financial numeracy directly affects financial management outcomes related to borrowing, saving, and taxes. It indirectly affects higher‐order financial consequences, such as a consumer's credit score, interest rates charged on subsequent loans, net worth, likelihood of bankruptcy, and size of inheritance.
Consumers around the world are increasingly experiencing difficulties with financial services. To advance research in financial services marketing beyond documenting troublesome financial behaviours of consumers, this conceptual model provides insights to help increase consumer proficiency in comprehending and managing financial services based on knowledge about consumer information processing, learning, memory and the cultural and psychographic influences on these internal processes.
Naureen Durrani and Vicki N. Tariq
The purpose of this article is to explore the role and importance of numeracy skills in graduate recruitment within a diversity of employment sectors.
The results of a mixed‐methods study, involving three online surveys (including an employer survey), student focus group sessions and interviews with tutors, are presented.
The results reveal the importance that employers attach to graduates’ numeracy skills and the extent to which employers use numeracy tests in graduate recruitment. They thus highlight the potential for poor numeracy skills to limit any graduate's acquisition of employment, irrespective of their degree subject; especially since numeracy tests are used predominantly in recruitment to the types of jobs commensurate with graduates’ career aspirations and within sectors that attract graduates from across the diversity of academic disciplines, including the arts and humanities.
Since participants were self‐selecting any conclusions and inferences relate to the samples and may or may not be generalisable to wider target populations.
The paper highlights what actions are necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills in the context of graduate employability.
The vulnerability of particular groups of students (e.g. females, those not provided with any opportunities to practise or further develop their numeracy skills whilst in higher education, those with no (or low) pre‐university mathematics qualifications, and mature students) is highlighted.
The article is timely in view of national policy to extend the graduate employability performance indicators within quality assurance measures for UK higher education.
Numeracy in a University and Beyond
Students in higher education, although usually qualified inmathematics, often have numeracy problems. Such problems frequentlyappear when undergraduates face numeracy…
Students in higher education, although usually qualified in mathematics, often have numeracy problems. Such problems frequently appear when undergraduates face numeracy tests as they seek employment. This article discusses the setting up of a numeracy project in a university and considers possible areas of research which might be pursued.
A descriptive analysis of consumer’s price promotion literacy skills
Pei Jie Tan and Svetlana Bogomolova
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a descriptive analysis of consumers’ ability to comprehend and use common price promotion information when they…
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a descriptive analysis of consumers’ ability to comprehend and use common price promotion information when they choose to do so (e.g. to find the least expensive price or to understand the savings amount); second, to identify which consumer groups (in terms of demographic characteristics) find price promotion comprehension particularly challenging.
An online questionnaire with 14 measures (four literacy, ten numeracy) was administered in the study. Data from 607 Australian consumers were analysed using descriptive, cross-tabulation, and multiple regression analysis via IBM SPSS analytics software.
On average, 20 per cent of the consumers surveyed were unable to comprehend the price promotion signage. On average, 13 per cent of the consumers were unable to carry out arithmetic tasks using the information on price promotion signage. Multiple regression models showed that income level was the main driving factor for the consumers’ price promotion literacy and numeracy levels.
The present study is the first exploratory examination of consumers’ levels of comprehension (literacy) and effective use (numeracy) regarding common types of price promotion communication. The use of online samples and data collection method overestimates the results effect.
This is a pilot field study to investigate whether levels of consumers’ price promotion literacy and numeracy are adequate for everyday decision making. The information can be used as evidence and justification for further research.