What am I doing here? - Perspectives of Zimbabwean adult learners on the relevance of adult numeracy to their needs and aspirations

Oct 15, 2026

Many adult learning centres in England provide numeracy (mathematics) education to adults across sectors, including migrants. This study focuses on Zimbabwean migrants in England and examines how adult numeracy education aligns with learners’ needs and aspirations. Data from questionnaires, focus groups, and in-depth interviews show limited perceived need for improving everyday numeracy, with learning pursued for higher education or professional pathways. Learners report prior Zimbabwean mathematics as higher and not recognized. They also criticize games-based approaches and find “real-life” contexts culturally unfamiliar, preferring academic mathematics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Adult numeracy education focus in England

Migration context and study rationale

Background: Mathematics and Adult Numeracy Education in Zimbabwe and England

Mathematics education in Zimbabwe: legacy for migrants

“What am I doing here?” Perspectives of Zimbabwean adult learners on the relevance of adult numeracy to their needs and aspirations Norman Maphosa Manchester Adult Education Service [norman.maphosa@man-adulted.org.uk](norman.maphosa@man-adulted.org.uk) Helen Oughton University of Bolton [h.oughton@bolton.ac.uk](h.oughton@bolton.ac.uk) Abstract Many adult learning centres in England provide numeracy (or mathematics) education to adults in all sectors of society, including migrants from countries across the world. This study takes one group of migrants – those from Zimbabwe – and explores the relevance of adult numeracy education to the needs and aspirations of Zimbabwean adult learners in England. The accounts, beliefs and attitudes expressed by learners and their teachers were collected through questionnaires, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The study found that most of the learner participants did not feel that they needed to improve their numeracy skills for everyday life and work, and had undertaken their adult numeracy learning in order to enter higher education or professional career pathways. They felt that their prior learning of mathematics in Zimbabwe had been higher than their Level 2 adult numeracy programmes and therefore felt that their prior learning had not been recognised or valued. Tutor participants were in agreement with learner participants concerning high levels of prior learning experience. Furthermore, the study found that teaching and learning approaches commonly offered in England, such as the use of games, did not meet the expectations of adult Zimbabwean learners, who considered them childish. The study also found that the current emphasis on ‘real-life’ contexts for adult numeracy learning and assessment presented challenges to Zimbabwean learners. Many of these contexts were based on British culture and were unfamiliar to the learners. They expressed a preference for what they called ‘academic’ (or pure) mathematics, which they had studied in Zimbabwe, and some participating learners suggested that the focus on British contexts represented cultural imperialism in requiring them to conform to the norms of British culture. Keywords: adult numeracy, migrant learners, prior learning, international qualifications, real-life context Introduction Recent decades have seen an increased focus on adult numeracyi education in England both from researchers and policy developers (BSA, 1997; Carpentieri, Lister & Frumkin, 2010) . Factors driving this have included international assessments such as PIACC, and the requirement for numeracy skills to participate in higher education and employment (Felstead, Gallie, Green, & Zhou, 2007) . A series of initiatives over the last two decades have led to the introduction of qualifications in Adult Numeracy and Functional Skills Mathematics at a range of levels up to Level 2, the standard normally expected from young people completing schooling at the age of 16. Programmes leading to these qualifications have been offered in a variety of adult education settings in England, such as colleges, adult community education centres, workplaces and prisons. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of Zimbabwean migrant adult learners enrolled on such programmes in England, and in particular, the relevance of the classes to their needs and aspirations, in light of recognition of their prior learning, qualifications and experience. Since the year 2000, many Zimbabweans have migrated to other countries, including the United Kingdom, due to the deteriorating social and economic situation. Political oppression, shortage of basic commodities such as food, caused by the compulsory Land Reform and Resettlement Programme, eroded the livelihoods of many people. The result was a massive exodus of people at all levels of social stratum in pursuit of better life opportunities (Bloch, 2005) . Most of those who came to the United Kingdom sought to regula

FAQs

What question does the study address about adult numeracy education?

It explores how adult numeracy classes relate to the needs and aspirations of Zimbabwean adult learners in England.

Why did most learners undertake adult numeracy learning?

Most learners did not feel they needed numeracy for everyday life and work; they pursued adult numeracy to enter higher education or professional career pathways.

What did learners and tutors say about prior learning and recognition?

Learners felt their prior mathematics learning in Zimbabwe was higher than their Level 2 programmes and was not recognized or valued; tutor participants agreed about high levels of prior learning experience.

Oct 15, 2026

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