Excellence in mathematics education: Multiple confluences

Abstract

Excellence in mathematics education is often linked with high performance in international achievement tests such as TIMSS. In this short paper, I broaden the notion of excellence by considering how the different aspects of mathematics education come together instead of only focusing on what these aspects are. Using confluence as a metaphor to describe excellence, I examine Singapore’s excellence in mathematics education by showing how the “big things” of education such as societal expectations, policy formulation and implementation, and how the “small things” of classroom practices—scheme of work, tasks (especially typical problems), and examinations—flow together towards the same vision of ambitious teaching articulated by the Singapore Mathematics Curriculum Framework.