RWN City Metro Observation of Mathematics Student Referrals
Most students who struggled with or did not enjoy mathematics (maths) in a school environment never expect to encounter formal maths again. It is something they studied in school due to curriculum requirements and memories of maths are things they are happy to leave behind as they pursue life and career choices – until the necessity to study maths again arises in unexpected ways.
In the past two years, City Metro has received ten referrals from students seeking a maths tutor. In all but one referral, the students were enrolled at TAFE and a course requirement involved the study of a unit of maths related to the course. In all cases, students had experienced a gap between studying maths at school (which was generally not positive) and their encounters with maths at TAFE. That gap ranged from 2 years to 20 years.
While most adults deal with what are numeracy-based issues in everyday life, such as estimating time, and measuring ingredients for cooking recipes, the observation of TAFE requirements is that of formal maths. In some cases, the maths is linked to the course, such as in nursing or surveying, but most of the TAFE coursework encountered by students is of the mechanics of maths and solving straight exercises or problems – something students have not done in a long while. After that, there is some limited application to real world problems. Such encounters elicit feelings of anxiety for students (Lee and Morgan, 2023) as have been observed in several student interviews undertaken by City Metro coordinators.
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Most student referrals to City Metro have been seeking a ‘quick fix.’ By this, we mean students are seeking a tutor to help them with understanding the maths in their course (which has mostly been algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and some numerical work) to enable them to pass their units of study. The tutoring in these cases has generally been of a short duration. City Metro currently has two maths/numeracy students matched with tutors who have sought a longer-term approach to the development of their maths understanding – the ‘slow build.’
10 referrals in 2 years 2-20 years gap in maths study 8 students seeking a ‘quick fix’ 2 students choosing a ‘slow build’ |
The ’quick fix’ is often problematic. The TAFE units being studied tend to have highly specific curricula and require lecturers to deliver content quickly (Reilly, Sheridan, and van der Jagt, 2025). Students, themselves, are generally lacking a sense of ease and comfort with numbers and maths concepts, that can often interfere with their learning (Cockcroft, 1982) in addition to the anxiety they may be experiencing. Lecturers in vocational education have the task of delivering knowledge considered to be of immediate use and easy to demonstrate, and this may come at the expense of developing students’ deep understanding of maths concepts (FitzSimons, 2019). The ‘quick fix’ skirts the issue of fully understanding concepts but gives students strategies to pass their TAFE units in the here and now. Whether students believe they will ever use such maths concepts in the workplace is unknown.
The two ‘slow build’ students are the ones to observe. It will be interesting to examine the outcomes of these students with no pressure to achieve immediately, but who have time to fully absorb maths concepts with their tutors.
References:
Cockroft, W.H. (1982). Mathematics Counts. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office.
FitzSimons, G. (2019). Adults Learning Mathematics: transcending boundaries and barriers in an uncertain world. Adults Learning Mathematics: An International Journal, 14(1), 41-52.
Lee, C. & Morgan, M. (2023). Remembering Learned Mathematics: we can run but we can’t hide. Teacher Development, 29(1), 167-186.
Reilly, Sheridan & van der Jagt (2025). Adult Learners in a pre-university mathematics course: a scoping review. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 44(4), 358-382.