Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory

Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory

Manchester Metropolitan University, 17-19th July 2011

All my books- are if you like, little tool boxes. If people want to open them, or to use this sentence or that idea as a screwdriver or spanner to short-circuit, discredit or smash systems of power, including eventually those from which my books have emerged - so much the better (Foucault).

Keynote Speakers: Deborah Britzman, Luis Radford and Margaret Walshaw

Mathematics education, as a field for research, can sometimes relate awkwardly to its two constituent terms, which tenuously wave to each other from disparate conceptual domains: while mathematics often continues to be seen as a discipline beyond social discourses where its objectivity is a prized possession, education is notionally a social science susceptible to interpretive analysis.

On the one hand, philosophies of mathematics which are centred in positivistic notions of mathematical truth, objectivity and stable meaning are not especially disposed to the linguistic turn predominant in twentieth century philosophies, privileged in all three mainstream contemporary traditions: hermeneutics, analytic philosophy and postmodernism. Truth, insofar as it is entertained, is processed through language where knowledge emerges through the operation of discursive systems. As such, knowledge houses tendencies that are not always in the business of portraying a world defined by consensual harmony in which final answers might be available.

Education, meanwhile, frequently resists conceptual immersion in the broader social sciences and the analytical resources those sciences provide since, as both idea and practice, it finds itself increasingly susceptible to external definitions and regulation that is more or less visible. Curriculum decisions are split and shared between various groups that do not necessarily see eye to eye, resulting in potential disjunctions between policy setting, implementation by teachers and the conceptualisations of researchers. These conflicts have in some countries led to an enforced homogenisation of practices with commensurate research.

Thus restrictive conceptions of mathematics and of education result in the composite term “mathematics education” being held in place by a variety of culturally bound assumptions. A key question presents itself: Do we conceptualise our task in terms of initiating our students into existing knowledges? Or might our task be seen more radically as troubling the limits of those knowledges, to keep open the prospect of our students accessing a truth that transcends the parameters of our own teaching? That is, can students reach beyond the frameworks that their teachers offer to produce a new future that we are unable to see? Such options require that teachers forego a comprehensive understanding of what their students should be able to achieve. This gateway to new knowledge can be understood in many ways, as can the trajectories that might take us through it. Can we embrace new ontological possibilities for the learner and teacher beyond established states of representation?

The conference will explore the frontiers and possible futures of mathematics education through considering how theoretical resources enable alternative possibilities. Primarily through discussion and the advance circulation of papers, this invitational conference with about 40 delegates will assert a place for theory in the future development of mathematics education research, with journal special issues as an immediate target. All participants have been invited to send papers in advance (i) outlining their theoretical interests and (ii) offering a paper contributing to 'theory in mathematics education' to be organised into themes for discussion groups.An optional day (20th July) will provide the opportunity for more informal discussion during a country walk. A proposal has been submitted by Tony Brown and Margaret Walshaw to guest edit an issue of Educational Studies in Mathematics, to which delegates have been invited to submit expressions of interest to submit a paper.

Home to nearly 100,000 university students Manchester is one of the liveliest cities in the UK ( The Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory conference will be centred in the Castlefield Hotel ( where most delegates will stay, in therestored and largely traffic-free canal district, less than 1km from the city centre. This is next door to the impressive national Museum of Science and Industry where the opening session of the conference will be held ( by the site of the Roman fort. The venue is situated in a very attractive area with many bars and restaurants (see photos).

Conference organisers: Tony Brown, Yvette Solomon and Julian Williams

Other events taking place in the same period:

PME Ankara 10-15th July 2011

The Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory conference has been scheduled to follow PME in Ankara to enable long distance travellers to combine events.

Manchester Metropolitan University, Educational and Social Research Institute

Summer Institutes, 19-23 July 2010, 18-22 July 2011

A separate event, the Summer Institute in Qualitative Research, to take place at MMU’s Didsbury campus in leafy South Manchester, will provide the opportunity to learn about current trends in theory and methodology, in dialogue with leading theorists. This event is scheduled to run in July 2010 and July 2011. See attached flyer for 2010 event, where keynotes are being given by Patti Lather, Stephen Ball and others. The 2011 event will followthe Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory conference – details to follow.