Abstract
This book is concerned with learning difficulties in literacy and numeracy and the need for greater appreciation of varied approaches to research that have been used in efforts to improve learning. Literacy and numeracy education is core in quality learning across all phases of schooling and all curriculum areas. While these ideas will be familiar to many readers, there has been limited dialogue across the domains of literacy and numeracy research, particularly as they relate to learning difficulties. In effect, each has tended to operate in a separate entity, likened to ‘silos’.
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Notes
- 1.
MCEETYA is now known as the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA).
- 2.
Literacy is defined as ‘the flexible and sustainable mastery of a repertoire of practices with the texts of traditional and new communication technologies via spoken language, print and multimedia’ (The State of Queensland, 2000, p. 9).
- 3.
‘To be numerate is to use mathematics effectively to meet the general demands of life at home, in paid work, and for participation in community and civic life’ (Australian Association for Mathematics’ Teachers, 1997, p. 15).
- 4.
Our research study that provided the stimulus for this book attempted to understand how schools in Queensland, Australia, identified and supported students who experienced difficulties in literacy and numeracy (Wyatt-Smith et al., 2007). Some schools had relatively homogeneous student characteristics, while others were varied in ethnicity, home language and socioeconomic factors. Where schools recognised that most students were performing at low levels in literacy and numeracy, classroom programs tried to address this situation directly. Other schools saw difficulties only among a small proportion, and thus targeted support to these students. The first element of our study was to administer questionnaires to school principals and support teachers. This generated much useful information on what schools were doing, and emphasised the high degree of local decision-making that pertained. The second element was to analyse statewide, standardised achievement test data obtained at years 3, 5 and 7. We were able to show that average and low-achieving students made similar rates of growth across the 4-year-period. However, the large spread in achievement that existed at year 3 was maintained at each subsequent testing. Students who had been identified prior to year 3 (by Reading Recovery, Clay, 1993 or Year 2 Diagnostic Net, Education Queensland, 1995) also showed similar rates of learning through subsequent primary school years, and continued to be low achievers. The third element comprised detailed case studies of schools identified by school systems as providing effective support in literacy or numeracy. The case reports showed a wide range of practices for identifying struggling students and a similarly wide range of intervention practices. Common across the cases were collaborative planning and careful monitoring of student outcomes. However, longitudinal tracking and analysis of the effectiveness of specific interventions were generally lacking. These three methodological approaches were used against the backdrop of an extensive review of research literature, reported selectively in Chapter 2 of this book.
- 5.
The Cochrane Collaboration is a peer-reviewed system of meta-analyses of the effectiveness of various medical treatments. It aims to establish evidence-based practices.
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Wyatt-Smith, C., Elkins, J. (2011). Theoretical Frameworks and Ways of Seeing: Operating at the Intersection—Literacy, Numeracy and Learning Difficulties. In: Wyatt-Smith, C., Elkins, J., Gunn, S. (eds) Multiple Perspectives on Difficulties in Learning Literacy and Numeracy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8864-3_1
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