Education must be about enabling people to understand and interact with the world. The skills,
habits of mind and dispositions developed through effective attention to numeracy across the
curriculum are clearly key components of understanding and interacting with the world. (p. 2)
The above ideas about numeracy are encapsulated in the Numeracy Framework
developed by Willis and Hogan (Hogan, 2000; Morony et al., 2004; Willis, 1998). The
framework incorporates three perspectives on numeracy, a blend of which was required for
students to display intelligent mathematical action in context. The three types of knowledge
are:
• Mathematical knowledge – the knowledge needed for intelligent mathematical
action
• Contextual knowledge – the ability to link mathematics to experiences
• Strategic knowledge – the ability to ask questions about the application of
particular mathematical knowledge