MATHEMATICAL COMPETENCIES AND THE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS: THE DANISH KOM PROJECT

This paper presents the Danish KOM project (KOM: Competencies and the Learning of Mathematics), initiated by the Ministry of Education and other official bodies in order to create a platform for in-depth reform of Danish mathematics education, from school to university. The author of the paper was appointed as the director of the project. Its final report was published in October 2002. The fundamental idea of the project is to base the description of mathematics curricula primarily on the notion of a “mathematical competency”, rather than on syllabi in the traditional sense of lists of topics, concepts, and results. This allows for an overarching conceptual framework which captures the perspectives of mathematics teaching and learning at whichever educational level. “One should ask whose knowledge is best, not who knows the most” (Montaigne, “On pedagogy”, in Essays, 1st Book, Chapter 25 [26])