What are the combinations of mathematical statistical and technological skills that people need in their work? The type of people we have in mind are those at “intermediate” level typically non-graduates with A-level qualifications or equivalent who may be working as skilled industrial operators or supervisory managers. This question was central to the Mathematical Skills in the Workplace project previously reported in this newsletter. That project concluded with the idea of “mathematical literacy” as a growing necessity for successful performance in the workplace. The Techno-mathematical Literacies in the Workplace project was established in October 2003 to investigate the nature of mathematical literacies in more detail by a two-stage process. First to survey the mathematical work being done by intermediate-level employees in a sample of companies. Second to design and test “learning opportunities” for employees that focus on those “Techno-mathematical Literacies” (TmL) which we find to be important from the initial survey. Ultimately the intention is that our research findings will not fizzle away as tends to happen with fixed-term projects but that the learning materials we produce can continue to be disseminated and developed in the post-16 education and training sector. One avenue for this that we are working on is to incorporate our ideas into NVQ frameworks for the several industry sectors that our investigations focus on: Packaging Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing and Financial Services.
