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Mathematics and Mathematics Education Policy Mogens Niss

“The first and foremost goal of a mathematics teacher is to help students learn mathematics, not to make them feel good about not knowing mathematics” (Ted Eisenberg in a dialogue with Michael Fried, Eisenberg and Fried 2009, p. 145)

Abstract This chapter explores aspects of the relationship between mathematics education policy and mathematics. It argues that some of the differences of views and opinions encountered on the stages on which mathematics education policy is discussed and debated, are often rooted in very different views of and stances on the nature and essence of mathematics as a discipline and as a subject. After an initial attempt at introducing and clarifying some key concepts used in the chapter, the analysis is supported and illustrated by a number of concrete examples from the writings of influential organisations, mathematicians and mathematics educators who have articulated their positions with regard to mathematics education policy. Keywords Nature of mathematics · Mathematics education · Mathematical pedagogy · Math wars · Education policy · Policy makers · Policy agents · Justification question

Introduction: The Notion of Policy This paper deals with the relationship between three entities, “mathematics”, “mathematics education”, and “policy”, of which policy perhaps appears to be “the odd term out”, as it typically deals with issues related to decision-making, society, politics, economy, management and administration, whereas the two other may seem relatively familiar and well-defined, at least within a community of mathematicians and mathematics educators. However, in this paper I shall argue that problems with and disagreement about policy in the context of mathematics and, above all, mathM. Niss (B) IMFUFA/NSM, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark e-mail: [email protected] M.N. Fried, T. Dreyfus (eds.), Mathematics & Mathematics Education: Searching for Common Ground, Advances in Mathematics Education, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7473-5_15, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

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ematics education are in large part, but of course not solely, rooted in disagreement about what mathematics and mathematics education are supposed to mean and be. As it is a key point in this paper that the relationships amongst the three components at issue are markedly influenced by the meaning attached to each of them, it follows that we need to take a closer look of the terms. Firstly, I propose the following definition of policy: • A policy is a set of measures—decisions and actions—designed and implemented to pursue certain ends and goals that are deemed desirable by those adopting the policy. Admittedly, this is a very wide definition as it ranges from decisions and actions undertaken by, say, members of a household in order to achieve certain goals, through to measures put in place by a government, or a trans-national body such as the UN or the EU, to pursue some general ends. Oftentimes, however, the term policy is restricte