On the links between mathematics education and democracy: A literature review

Abstract

This article reports the results of a literature review focused on identifying the links between mathematics education and democracy. The review is based on the analysis of a collection of manuscripts produced in different regions of the world. The analysis of these articles focuses on six aspects, namely, (1) definitions of democracy used in these texts, (2) identified links between mathematics education and democracy, (3) suggested strategies to foster a democratic competence in mathematics students (4) tensions and difficulties inherent in mathematical education for democracy, (5) the fundamental role of the teacher in the implementation of democratic education and (6) selected criticisms of mathematical education for democracy. The main contributions of this article are to provide the reader with an overview of the literature related to mathematics education and democracy, and to highlight some of the theoretical and empirical topics that are necessary to further development within this research area.