The Research On Numeracy In Upper Secondary Vocational Education In Victoria,Australia

Since the 20th Century,the importance of numeracy in civil living,employment and career development has been rising.Nowadays numeracy has been playing a significant role in the field of vocational education,and development of student's numeracy skills has received broad attention in countries around the globe,while research related to this particular field in China is yet to be further strengthened.The thesis of this research provides a detail analysis and discussion on the ideas,contents,implementation and assessment of numeracy education(including VCAL numeracy unit and numeracy in VET)in upper secondary vocational education of the Victoria state,Australia.This study would then explore about the current situation and problems of mathematics education in Shanghai vocational high schools,as well as to discuss on the valuable insights taken from Victoria.This study consists of six chapters.The first chapter is the introductory section.The introductory section contains the background and rationale of this research,as well as providing a literature review based on research papers from domestic and foreign sources.Concepts related to this study would be introduced.Questions,contents,methodology and technical route of this research are described at the end of the introductory section.The second chapter consists of the background information about the numeracy in upper secondary vocational education in Australia.This chapter explores its history,and introduces education system and upper secondary vocational education in Victoria,and Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning.The third chapter is the research on VCAL numeracy unit.Through literature analysis,classroom observation,interview and case study,this chapter has revealed the ideas,objectives,contents,organization of VCAL numeracy unit.Implementation in separate and integrated curriculum,as well as student's assessments are explored in this chapter.The fourth chapter is the research on numeracy in VET in Victoria.Through literature analysis,classroom observation,interview and case study,this chapter has revealed the ideas and particularity,methods to develop contents and contents for workplace numeracy,implementation,the framework and features of assessment of numeracy in VET.The fifth chapter discusses the inspiration obtained from numeracy education in upper secondary vocational education of Victoria,and what the mathematics education in Shanghai vocational high schools could learn via such inspiration.Through literature analysis,classroom observation and interview with mathematic teachers,this section reveals analytical findings related to the present situation and existing problems within mathematics education in Shanghai vocational high schools.This section further explores how Shanghai can gain inspirations and experiences from Victoria.The sixth chapter is the research conclusion and reflection.The first part of this chapter is the response to the research questions,and the second part is about directions for further research.