Role of Literacy and Numeracy
Literacy and numeracy lay the foundation for lifelong learning and for active participation in society. Literacy and numeracy begin at birth and develop throughout one’s lifetime. Alberta Education envisions a more intentional approach to literacy and numeracy development in all subjects and disciplines and all grade levels.
Alberta Education uses the following definitions for literacy and numeracy:
- Literacy is the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with language to acquire, construct and communicate meaning in all aspects of daily living.
- Numeracy is the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with quantitative or spatial information to make informed decisions in all aspects of daily living.
Literacy and numeracy progressions developed by Alberta Education describe key literacy and numeracy milestones along a continuum of developmentally appropriate expectations and behaviours from K–12.
The progressions are organized around components, elements and descriptors. The progressions provide a common language and construct for all teachers (all subjects, all grades) to help students reinforce, acquire or apply literacy and numeracy when engaging with subject learning outcomes.
Literacy and numeracy are built and refined through learning the subject; in turn, conceptual and procedural knowledge in the various subjects are developed through literacy and numeracy. To take a closer look at the progressions, click on the links below:
New provincial curriculum will explicitly show the connections between learning outcomes and relevant literacy and numeracy progressions that students develop and apply when addressing learning outcomes.
The following video describes how the literacy and numeracy progressions are organized: