ICMI column Núria Planas The ICMI Database Project: updated over time and, when possible, expanded. Currere is, of Mathematics curricula all over the world course, more than links to curricular texts and guidelines. Nonethe- less, as we learn about these data, we learn about mathematics The term curriculum has its roots in the ancient Roman culture curriculum too. and in the classical Latin verb currere, whose closer meaning in Two more related accounts of the strong interest of ICMI in modern English could be ‘to run.’ The running or race metaphor is issues of curricula are (1) the concluded ICMI Study 24, ‘School certainly inspiring. It suggests many ideas, from that of competition mathematics curriculum reforms: Challenges, changes and oppor- with those most rapid winning the race, to that of movement with tunities’ (for the discussion document, the study conference, and learners, teachers, families and curriculum developers experiencing the conference proceedings, visit the website2), and (2) the forth- together the running. A certain meaning of currere can thus expand coming Springer volume, ‘Mathematics curriculum reforms around the educational experience of the curriculum beyond the syllabus, the world: The 24th ICMI Study’,3 edited by Yoshinori Shimizu the course, the materials or the objectives of teaching and learning. (Japan) and Renuka Vithal (South Africa). The ICMI Study 24 and Currere is not then the race to be won, but rather the race or path the Database Project both adopt a defining cross-cultural lens in to be run. In the context of mathematics education and conceived the approach to the mathematics curriculum. Considering these broadly, currere can be viewed as a collaborative move towards ICMI projects and their particular similarity in this regard, we may the progressive understanding and learning of mathematical con- wonder: Why is the collection and presentation of cross-cultural cepts and structures to be used in practice. For this to happen, curricular data important for mathematics education? I will next ar- educational systems all over the world need to select and interpret gue that it is important for two reasons at least, and I will illustrate mathematical and pedagogical contents, human, symbolic and these for the specific case of the Database Project. material resources …, which is far from trivial. A first reason is that collecting and presenting cross-cultural In 2011, the International Commission on Mathematical In- curricular data is important in order to learn from and through di- struction (ICMI) launched the Database Project.1 The ultimate goal versity. The Database Project reflects and represents an enormous of this project is to build and update a database of the mathematics diversity of curricula – and curricular cultures – covering mathe- curricula at different levels of instruction over the world. Across matical contents that exist with respect to both student age and the pre-tertiary stages, most mathematics curricula are largely reg- country variation. Representations of diversity are always important, ulated under country policies, whereas at the tertiary stage these because they allow us to foresee and discuss alternatives other curricula are often decided at the more local level of each particular than those initially imagined. If mathematics teachers, curriculum university. The future consideration of university curricula, including developers, stakeholders and researchers have the opportunity to mathematics in courses for prospective mathematics teachers, will situate their perspectives on curricula in relation to other perspec- need a multi-case approach within countries, differently from the tives in a larger context, they also have the opportunity to learn common single-case approach for pre-tertiary curricula. At present, by contrast and perhaps infer some common lessons. A second pre-tertiary mathematics curricula of 37 countries listed in alphabet- reason is that collecting and presenting cross-cultural curricular ical order from Argentina to United Kingdom are documented. The data is important in order to understand the cultural nature of the collection of data for each entry is organized through summaries – mathematics curriculum, and likewise any other subject curricu- provided by country representatives – and links to institutional local lum. The mathematics curriculum is cultural, not only because it webpages with curricular texts and guidelines. With the valuable is produced within institutionalized sites, but also because beliefs, support of the country representatives, this information remains 2 http://www.human.tsukuba.ac.jp/~icmi24 1 https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/activities/icmi-database-project 3 https://www.springer.com/series/6351 EMS MAGAZINE 128 (2023) — DOI 10.4171/MAG/125 65 values and unwritten rules mediate decisions about what to design, that share some common challenges with the Database initiative. teach, learn and assess, and by whom. Just this past December, Tomás Recio sent written reflections gained Notwithstanding the foregoing, the collection and presentation over the course of his participation in European projects with re- of cross-cultural curricular data is indeed challenging. Again, I will searchers from different countries, all considered as belonging to argue that it is challenging for two reasons at least, which I will il- Western traditions, who mentioned rather different aspects of one lustrate for the singular case of the Database Project. A first reason, curricular mathematical content but named them the same. That especially present in this project, is the language for communica- message from Tomás resonated with my current participation in tion of curricular data. While some countries have English as one a mathematics education research and developmental project with of the languages of their curricular texts, hence links to webpages colleagues in England and Germany. When I talk about the Thales in English are possible, these are exceptions. English summaries, theorem as a curricular content in the secondary school mathe- prepared in collaboration with the country representatives, precede matics in Spain, I will support my talk with the drawing of two texts in the respective official languages. It is still feasible, however, lines in a plane, two segments in one of them, some parallels … to that country-based teams consulting the Database Project may conclude around a proportionality between ratios. If it is my col- have some people who know one or two more languages other league in Germany, for instance, who talks about Thales theorem than those official in their context. When this is not the case, there in her context of secondary school mathematics, she will support can be other options. A Spanish team has easy linguistic access to her talk with the drawing of a circumference, three distinct points the data from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Paraguay, on it with two of them representing the extremes of a diameter … Peru …, although there may be different meanings attached to to conclude around the creation of a triangle with a right angle. the same words in use across countries. The Spanish word eval- Thales, born in the wealthy Greek Miletus, is definitely credited uación is a clear example, with some countries using the word with more than two theorems, all beautiful and basic in geometry in institutional documents to express a focus on assessment of education. But then again, the Database Project is for connecting learning and some others to involve rating and performance of and making meaning of mathematical curricular choices that are programs and educators. A second reason that makes the cross- cultural. cultural nature of the Database Project challenging is the necessary caution and concern over the course of any comparison or as- sociation. Cultural and societal differences between Eastern and Acknowledgements. This ICMI column is an expanded version of Western approaches to pedagogy, mathematics and mathematics the text published in the ICMI Newsletter – December 2022.4 I have education, for instance, cannot be disregarded in the cross-reading introduced ideas from an email by Tomás Recio after his reading of some entries like those from France and China. As said above, of the text in that Newsletter. My heartfelt thanks to Tomás. a common language at the level of words and sentences does not imply common interpretations. Be it a challenge, a strength or both, the very conception of the Database Project makes it an ongoing project that is never Núria Planas is professor of mathematics education at Autonomous complete, because of continuous expansion and updating. This is University of Barcelona, Spain, and honorary research fellow at the a ‘match’ with currere itself. The mathematics curriculum is also Department of Education at the University of Oxford. Her research and an ongoing project, never finalized regardless of the country. Any publications focus on multilingual mathematics learning and teaching, set of decisions, texts and actions is alive. It is regularly assessed language use in mathematics classrooms, and sociocultural theories of and it will be revised after some years for redesign and, hopefully, mathematics education. She is a Member-at-Large of the ICMI Executive improvement and adjustment to societal changes and to newer Committee. research findings. nuria.planas@uab.cat If you are interested in adding to the Database Project, or if you have comments about some of its entries, please let me know at nuria.planas@uab.cat. I would love to hear from you! You may 4 https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/icmi-newsletter-december-2022#on- have experience of other projects, either ongoing or completed, page-6 66 EMS MAGAZINE 128 (2023)