With universities nationally increasingly embracing corporate principles of governance and management, serious questions emerge on what constitutes effective teaching in the University sector. There exists an inordinate fixation on being able to measure any and every academic activity. This has severe ramifications for the teaching of fundamental subjects such as mathematics.Invariably, a dichotomy between how evidence of effective teaching is presented as opposed to actual classroom practice comes to the fore.

The situation is exacerbated by non-experts being called upon to pass judgements on teaching of areas where they have little or no qualifications in under the guise of institution-wide fairness. This state of affairs threatens to have untold negative repercussions on an already stressed academy and in due course will manifest itself in lowered standards of education.

These are some of the aspects we intend probing at the meeting. In addition, South Africa has seen an unprecedented call from young people to ‘decolonise’ the broader curriculum. What are the implications for the way mathematics is taught going forward? It is hoped that delegates will debate these ideas at the meeting.