There has been a chronic crisis situation in school mathematics since the 1980s when an alternative (i.e. a remedy) to ‘New Maths for Schools’ was urgently needed. The broad outlines of a replacement were suggested by the much hyped  Cockcroft Report Mathematics Counts (HMSO 1982).  It threw attention onto the […]

Thought experiments putting us in the shoes of our prehistoric ancestors are the best way to get a secure, grounded view of how maths began. If we do this the “essential nature” of maths becomes plain. It is a kind of kit of written symbols which can be used to […]

Today the case for embarking on a radical reform programme for mainstream school mathematics teaching is overwhelming.  The existing status quo is palpably in trouble, and in a significant subset of secondary schools the subject has sunk to the point where it is regarded, both by teachers and students, as […]

We know that the formerly superordinate power of rationality crashed, sadly, in June 1901 when Bertrand Russell discovered his deadly contradiction.  It was not an ordinary,  freestanding, optional contradiction like that which appears when someone remarks idly that <<the weather is fine, even though it is dark and teeming with […]