Tackling mixed messages: embedding advanced numeracy in graduate identities

This paper proposes some elements of a university-level agenda needed to develop a cross-campus approach to numeracy. In the last ten years, there has been much work supporting the development of pedagogy surrounding maths and quantitative skills alongside discussion and innovation in teaching elementary statistics, as well as growth of excellent websites. But there are additional barriers to numeracy in graduates which may not be a part of individual lecturers’ remits and so are left unchallenged. We make the proposition that universities need to move beyond individual courses and degree schemes and start to think at institutional level in order to maximise the impact of innovations in maths and statistics teaching and learning to ensure that both specialist and non-specialist students are equipped to gain and maintain the employment that they want as graduates. Wider, cross-campus strategies can contribute both to raising awareness of the different constituencies and their teaching needs; and to tracking students’ development in maths and quantitative work across degree schemes.