Abstract
Why teach mathematics? What are the purposes, goals, justifications and reasons for teaching mathematics? How can current mathematical teaching plans and practices be justified? What might be the rationale for reformed, future or possible approaches for mathematics teaching? What should be the reason for teaching mathematics, if it is to be taught at all? These questions begin to indicate the scope of what Niss (1996) has termed the ‘justification problem’ for mathematics teaching.
Before discussing the aims of teaching mathematics there are three theses that I wish to assert as having an important bearing on this discussion. These concern, first of all, the lack of uniqueness and multiplicity of school mathematics; second, the current overestimation of the utility of academic mathematics; third, the socially and societally embedded nature of the aims of teaching and learning of mathematics. Acknowledging these claims means that the discursive space to be occupied differs from that in many traditional discussions of the aims of mathematics education.
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