The teaching of mathematics can be a minefield 

     It has been said the teaching of mathematics is a minefield (Desforges & Cockburn, 1987). For many teachers, mathematics teaching is about teaching a set curriculum and following a mathematics scheme. This restricts the teaching of mathematics, and more importantly, children's own mathematics can be hidden, as there may be a scarcity of opportunities within the classroom, to allow children's own mathematical thinking to develop.

     The pedagogies that do give children freedom to follow their enquiries and draw from their own cultural understandings of mathematics are those that will nurture children's mathematics.