New resources to help teachers support students with numeracy difficulties are now available on the Diverse Learners Hub.
The hub is an initiative of the $1.6 billion Disability Inclusion reform. It offers resources for diverse learners and students with learning difficulties, including strategies, tools and information to help boost your knowledge and skills and help your students reach their goals.
What is a diverse learner?
Diverse learners include students with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalculia.
On average, there are 4 or 5 diverse learners in every mainstream classroom.
What is a learning difficulty?
'Learning difficulty' is an umbrella term to describe difficulty students experience with learning because of a variety of reasons (such as disability or living in out-of-home care), and where these students are unable to access the curriculum through high-quality instruction alone.
This group of students, if they are provided with greater knowledge and practice, are capable of closing the gap between them and their peers.
Understanding the reasons why a student may be experiencing difficulties while learning is an important first step to help them better access the curriculum.
What support does the hub offer?
The Diverse Learners Hub includes guidance on how to identify and support students who have learning difficulties in numeracy.
To help you to identify if a student has a learning difficulty in numeracy, the hub has key questions to ask and steps you can take to understand the nature of the student's difficulty.
The hub also has guidance on:
- how to create a numeracy profile: data and key information to include in a student's numeracy profile
- numeracy tests and what they assess: tools to help teachers understand a student's numeracy learning difficulties and assess their progress and learning needs
- teaching strategies and activities to improve numeracy knowledge and skills
- how to encourage visualising numeracy ideas.
Professional development
Teachers from Victorian government schools can access free professional learning, including the learning difficulties in numeracy video series.
If you are a teacher in a mainstream Victorian school, you can also apply for the Graduate Certificate in Education (Learning Difficulties).
Applications for Round 2 of this tertiary study program open in early 2023.
Find out more
For more information, refer to:
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